Ramble on Judaism and Christianity

For some reason, I keep thinking about this.

The Christian Bible includes both the Old and New Testaments, so why is it that Christians don't keep kosher or celebrate Hanukkah?

Disclaimers:
1. For the intents of this ramble, I am treating both testaments as true. This ramble isn't about my personal beliefs – it's about the relationships between the two religions and their texts, in a very basic and general sense.
2. I haven't read the whole bible. I've read all of Genesis and Exodus, all of Matthew, and various other stories, all only once through, plus whatever excerpts I've read at Hebrew School, Torah Study, or camp.
3. I'm honestly not that familiar with the history of Christianity in terms of what happened hundreds of years after Jesus' lifetime and the formation of the religion, so that might account for a good chunk of what I'm missing.

So. Why is it that Christians aren't Jews, plus? Why don't Christians celebrate all the Jewish holidays and observe the Jewish customs, plus the ones centered around Jesus' life and teachings? If Jesus was supposedly Jewish, and furthermore the son of the God that made all the rules of Judaism, why wouldn't he preach his new teachings in addition to those rules? It seems like he kind of let his new followers off the hook for all the old Jewish stuff, in favor of the new things he was teaching them.

I was talking to Erica about this, and she said that the way she's had it explained to her, Judaism was sort of an elite religion. To be truly observant you basically had to sit around studying Torah all day, and only the rich could really afford to do that. So along comes Jesus, who says that no, you don't have to sit around studying all day – all you really have to do is be good people to be good in the eyes of God, and here's how to be good people. All of a sudden, pleasing God was something that was accessible to the masses.

But if Jesus is the son of God, and God is perfect, and God made those rules laid out in the Old Testament, how could Jesus have had the authority to go to the people and tell them the rules had changed? If God told him to, did that mean that the original rules weren't perfect? If God didn't tell him to…well that would be really bad, wouldn't it? Or are the father and the son supposed to be equals in the trinity? Even if they are equals, why would one deity say to the people that they don't really have to observe the Sabbath, even if the other deity told them to? That would mean a weird competition for power over dictating the rules that just doesn't seem right in this context. Plus, (and here's the kicker,) if the rules did change so that all you had to do was be a good person and not follow all of the 613 commandments in the Torah, why does the Christian Bible still include the Old Testament?

I have no idea. Maybe I'm wrong about some of these details or interpretations. Maybe I'm vastly over generalizing. Maybe it has to do with the history of the formation of the religion. Maybe I'm completely way off and just don't know my stuff that well. But these are things I wonder about, and it'd be cool to understand more about these questions and their answers.

Excitement!!!

I have a ramble on Judaism and Christianity basically set to post, but I'm too excited about customs to talk about anything else!

My hall is SO COOL. Like...aaaahhh! It's such a good mix of people, from what information I've gathered from stalking them for the past two days. Yes, I'm creepy. Yes, it's loving. Yes, I basically have everyone's names, rooms, and home states memorized. And really, was anyone expecting anything else?

So since I wanted to post something, and this is basically all that's on my mind right now, I felt the need to come on here and freak out to the internet at large.

CUSTOMS X IS GOING TO BE AWESOME!!!
♥

Day 28 - Your Year In Great Detail

No one actually has to read this. In fact, I don't really feel like writing it. But I'm on day 28 out of 30, and I'm not stopping now...

I'll do this by categories, cause going by month seems kind of ridiculous.


Adjusting to College

I'm starting with this one because it seems to be the most defining aspect of this year. A year ago I was still working, incidentally in the same office I'm working in now, preparing for school. I knew who my customs group was, and I'd probably been college shopping. It's so weird to think back on that now, not even knowing what Maia looked like or how big my room was.

I guess I knew but didn't realize how much of an adjustment it would be. Academically, it was fine. It's just that all of a sudden I didn't know anyone, and I had no really close friends like I had at home. But as time went on, that changed. It's funny because around April or so, I found something I'd written at the beginning of classes about how I felt about all of it, and how I didn't feel at home yet and didn't know when I would. So I wrote something new, about how I did fall into things with time, and how I wouldn't want to be anywhere else, how much I love Haverford and the community and feel a part of it, how I felt like I could tell my closest friends at school anything. I wish I could show those two side by side to incoming freshmen, to say "It's really going to be okay," but I won't. They need to go through it for themselves.


Friends

This reminds me of a song we used to sing in girl scouts: "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other's gold." That's basically what I did, and that's definitely true. I was nervous about its being weird to go home to my Needham friends once we'd all established ourselves elsewhere and made new friends, but it was so easy to fall back into things whenever we were home for breaks. And it goes without saying that I've made tons of awesome friends at Haverford! My hall was amazing, and so was my customs team as a whole. I can't fail to mention customs week - Primal Scream, Pluralism, getting-to-know-you games, endless meetings in Marshall... Also, hanging out in Alex's room and the common room, playing board games, pregaming and partying and going to dances, attempting to tunnel, atticking in Marshall and Gummere, sneaking in the the faculty pool after Haverfest, movie nights with Fairleigh and Emily, watching TV shows with Fairleigh and Alex, that awesome fort we built, going to Chipotle and Wawa, eating breakfasts with Maia in the common room on Mondays and Wednesdays, actually eating every meal with Maia second semester, hall dinners, etc. We all had a great time, and I'll especially miss 3/3 so much next year when we're all living different places around the school.


Family

My parents learned to live without me this year, and I think the distance has been good for all of us. I talked to my parents once a week while I was at school, and breaks went pretty smoothly, and summer has too so far. We lost Samson around Memorial Day, which was sad, and other than that this year has been uneventful. We did thanksgiving with my dad's side and Christmas with my mom's, and we just went down to CT to see my aunt and uncle (mom's brother and his wife) again this summer, which was cool. Also, for spring break Neelima and I flew out to LA to stay with my aunt and uncle (mom's sister and her husband), which was a blast. I hadn't been out there since I was 7 - usually they come to RI where my uncle's dad lives - so it was fun to see all the sights again once I'd actually remember them. It was also fun to travel out there without my parents - it had been a plan since I was 8 or so for me to go out there with a friend. And getting dirt on my family from my aunt was pretty fun too. :P


Academics

First semester I took Intro Psych, Happiness Virtue and the Good Life (Philosophy), Exploring Critical Issues through Writing (Spanish), and Intro Computing (at Bryn Mawr). Spanish drove me crazy, and I loved the philosophy class. I also found CS fun in this kind of twisted way, but mostly it was something different, fun times playing with robots, and time spent with Josh and Abby. And Bryn Mawr lunches were a plus. :) Second semester I took Perspectives on Immigration and Education in the US (Writing Sem), Logic (Philosophy), Social Problems (Soc), and Social Cognition (Psych). Soc was the biggest headache ever; Writing sem was my favorite class this year hands down. Barbara Hall is amazing, and I'm basically devastated that she's leaving. And Ralph Barnes is just crazy, although it took me two semesters to realize this, but he's gone now too because he was a visiting prof. Thank goodness I had Maia in both of my obnoxious classes this year, because we just bitched together. Oh, and I think I wrote over 50 pages between the last week of class and finals weeks second semester. Ridiculous.


Hobbies/Activities

Chorale, Photo for the Bi-Co, SAGA, QDG, Stitch-n-Bitch (once), Quaker Bouncing (twice), and a ton of emails from clubs I never did. And Massage Therapy, Bowling, and Intro Fitness. Oh, and starting GSpot with Abby at the end of the year! yay!


Misc.

Going to Purity over Fall Break and then visiting friends at schools near home, working in my dad's office this summer and over winter break, Plenary failing, a New Years resolution to work out three times a week (which lasted two weeks), getting the stomach flu after spring break, my now-infamous facebook note to my hall, the two snow days in a row when I had Social Problems anyway, playing/traying/tabling in the snow, getting Customs with Josh, buying out all of Bath and Body Works and banning myself from the store, trips into philly, hall sweatshirts, a summer of friends and beaches and boredom (and office monsters)...and well, here I am.

Oh, and also...

This Article.

I read it on the way to work, and it's pretty legit. I don't really feel much like rambling about it at the moment but I think it speaks for itself.

(Except that it doesn't mention solutions! Gahhh pet peeve...)

Day 27 - Your Month In Great Detail

Wow, it's almost like this 30 day thing wants me to ramble. :P

Honestly, I think I've already mentioned most things worth mentioning that have happened this month. July 1 was the office outing to Thompson Island where I hung out with office people and office people's kids, and played volleyball and lawn games and ate delicious seafood. I saw Leah S-G, which was fun because I hadn't seen her in awhile, and we walked around Africa. (Africa is a nickname for Cutler Park, for anyone who might be confused.) I went to fireworks and the flea market, swam in the Natick Pond, got an ear infection, got a cold, hung out with people a lot in various locations such as people's houses and cars, friendly's, camilla's, panera, and lizzy's ice cream. We went to the Vineyard, where we swam and hung out and shopped and ate and relaxed. I also took my trip around to visit school people, which I think I already covered in more-than-sufficient detail. I'm still waiting to hear on freshmen, and I'm still super excited for customs. I've also IMed/skyped with people a lot, which involved helping two people figure out their fall schedules and convinving Alex to take 2 classes and PE with me. (I'm doing Fencing and I'm so pumped!) Other than that I've mostly been at work. Which actually takes up the majority of the time I'm not sleeping.

So that's my July in a nutshell. 4 more days til August!

Ramble on Numbers as Identity

This one's really, really random, but it's just a thought I had. I have better rambles on the way, I promise.

In Logic class last semester, we learned how in ancient Greece, there was no concept of 0. If something didn't exist, why quantify it? Even 1 wasn't a number – it was a unit. The numbers started with 2, and they represented quantities. They quantified people or objects, such as a merchant's stock. That's why roman numerals were so easy. People weren't doing math with them; they were just recording that they had XXXIV of something, and the next day they only had XXVII left.

When did numbers start being used in ways that didn't quantify anything? When did they start representing places and people? We are all labeled by so many numbers, quietly nestled away in various systems based on these strings of digits that identify us. (And if they're just randomized strings of digits, can they even be called numbers?) Social Security numbers, student ID numbers, bank account and credit card numbers, College Board and AP numbers, even telephone numbers, street addresses, and zip codes all somehow identify us and where we're from. Yet they don't really quantify anything - they didn't start at 0. They're just impersonal and efficient ways to keep large quantities of people organized within systems.

So when, historically, did that happen? When did numbers stop being used just for quantities and start being used as labels?

That's my random thought for the day.

Day 26 - Your Week In Great Detail

Basically, this week has been awesome. Awesome enough, I think, that I almost don't mind working for three more weeks because I'll be back at school so soon. I've seen friends I missed, and I've been to so many cities in such a short amount of time that when I saw a guy wearing a Yankees hat in Philadelphia it actually took me a panicked second to figure out where the hell I was. So I'll go by cities.

City 1: Boston

Last Saturday morning, Neelima picked me up and we got bagles at Cafe Fresh before she drove me to the bus at South Station. I guess Boston doesn't really count much as a city except for that drive to the Megabus.

City 2: New York

My bus arrived at around 3, and Erica was there to meet me. Fairleigh's bus was wicked late, so we stood around with Dan, Alisha, Erin, and Chris. Apparently Dan and Alisha live in the city, and Erin and Chris were visiting. They were all very couple-y and me and Erica were just excited to see each other. Fairleigh's bus finally got there and we went back to Erica's apartment, ate Thai food with all the above people, then Fairleigh, Erica, and I had the most amazing girls night ever. It involved cookie dough, three flavors of ice cream including sangria sorbet which is incredible, fancy cheese and crackers, Sex and the City, and Amelie. We also chilled on the roof of Erica's dad's building and sat on some rocks down by the Hudson and talked.

Sunday, Fairleigh and I chilled most of the day while Erica slept from 11am until 4pm (it's a long story involving her dad and a triathlon). I finished up Sarah's friendship bracelet, which is awesome. Then we went to Shake Shack in Madison Square, walked through Union Square and went to The Strand, which is a bookstore. Then we stayed up later than necessary doing nothing.

Monday, Fairleigh and I chilled in the morning while Erica was at her improv class, and then we…I have no idea what we did on Monday. Oh, we went to Ricky's I think, and I got awesome green fishnets for Dorm Olympics, and some tights for my Halloween costume. And we must've walked around, but I forget where we went. That night Erica babysat and Fairleigh and I got ourselves to Chinatown all by ourselves and wandered around there. Then we stayed up til 3 skyping with Josh.

Tuesday, Erica had improv again so Fairleigh and I went to Columbus Circle and wandered, then Erica met us and we ate, walked through a little bit of Central Park, and went to a chocolate shop. Then Fairleigh and I got our stuff and barely made the Megabus in time.

City 3: Baltimore

Tuesday night we got ice cream at TCBY with Fairleigh's mom and sister. Wednesday morning Fairleigh and I made berry pancakes and went to Starbucks. She showed me this hippy-esque store called Something Else, and we also went into a consignment shop. Then we met Fairleigh's mom for lunch at the Paper Moon Diner, which is this awesome place where all the waiters share tables and it's all decorated with random crap all over the walls and ceiling in odd positions (I posted pics on facebook). Then we wandered and shopped on The Avenue in Hampdon, where I bought awesome yarn to make Fairleigh a scarf and we got Alex shotglasses with mustaches on them. I napped back at Fairleigh's, and then she took me on a driving tour of downtown, and then we ate dinner at her grandparents' house with her dad, sister, uncle, and cousin.

Thursday morning Fairleigh and I left at 8 to pick up her friend from high school, Celia, and we hit the road on our way to Haverford. I drove her car, which we named Mildred (Millie for short) because it drives like a grandmother and completely refuses to accelerate.

City 4: Philadelphia

We arrived at Haverford at around 11:30, when Alex was at work and Josh was about to leave for work, so we said hi and then drove to Swat to hang out with Hilary, who is Fairleigh and Celia's high school friend. We got lunch in the town of Swarthmore with Abby, who drove over to meet us. We went back and sat around in Josh and Alex's apartment, and then Fairleigh, Celia, Hilary, Alex, Josh, Marta, and I met Kelley in Philly and we all got dinner at Sansom Kabob. Then we wandered around Chinatown and got gelato, and I saw that guy with the NY hat and got really confused. Then we all hung out with Ryan in back at the apartment, and Josh and I wrote out postcards to our future freshmen whose names we still don't know.

Friday, we walked around Suburban Square and Ardmore while Alex worked, as Josh had left for Pittsburg early that morning. Then when Alex got off we chilled in the coop (literally) because the campus center has a/c, and then we met up with Kelley and Ori and we all went to Panera before we left to go back to Baltimore.

Back to Baltimore

We arrived back in Baltimore last night, and this morning Fairleigh and I went to Starbucks and this grocery store where they were giving out free samples of Hagen-daas ice cream, complete with a brownie chunk and hot fudge. Then we watched Gilmore Girls and her mom drove me to the airport.

Back to Boston

I flew into Boston, my parents picked me up, and we got dinner in Boston at this place called Durgin Park. It's in Quincy Market, and they have excellent steamers and strawberry shortcake. Then we walked back through the marketplace on the way back to the car. Now I'm finally home (although off to Connecticut in the morning!).

And that's the end of my busy week and awesome trip! :D

Ramble on Taste

I sometimes have incredibly random thoughts that I thought I'd share just in case anyone's interested. So this might become a sort of series, if I keep coming up with these random thoughts.

Also the next day topic in the 30-day thing is Your Week in Great Detail, and I'm saving that for the end of this trip.

So taste. I'm currently sitting on the Megabus to Baltimore, and I'm listening to Regina Spektor's new CD on repeat. It's kick-ass. It's funny, because I remember that I was first introduced to Regina Spektor the summer after 9th grade when Pargol sent me a mix CD of Regina's music while I was at camp. Back then I was very much in the throes of my relatively-obscure-music phase. I refused to listen to top 40, opting instead for Ani DiFranco, Ben Folds, Tori Amos, Joni Mitchell, Alanis Morrisette, and Regina Spektor (okay, and some Kelly Clarkson. But I never would've admitted it.) And that was honestly what I liked. I didn't like top 40, even though just the year before that had been all I'd listened to. But I've always found that my taste shifts towards what my friends like, because we all introduce each other to new things. Before I was friends with the people I became closer to in 8th and 9th grade, I'd never even heard of any of the singers in the above list. But my friends burned me CDs, and my music taste changed, and my life was changing.

Around junior year of high school, I had two friends who listened to a lot of poppy hip hop songs. I had sworn off hip hop because I was picky and pretentious and it wasn't artsy enough. But no matter how much I complained, they kept playing it whenever we drove anywhere, and after awhile I came to really like a lot of it. My taste changed. And I stopped listening to Tori and Joni and Alanis, and I listen to Ani way less, but I still love love love Regina Spektor. And I like a lot of top 40 again, but I still listen to the Indigo Girls all the time because I really like folksy music. I came to like TSwift just because I kept hearing her songs over and over again. I'm not a huge fan of Miley Cyrus, but I'm sure if you played me enough of her stuff I'd like her too. Debatable about the Jonas Brothers though.

So why is that? What makes our taste in music, movies, books, food, art, TV shows, etc. what it is? Certain things bring out certain emotions, which we may or may not want to feel. We can relate to some lyrics or plot lines better than others, and different songs and movies and activities have different energy levels. Horror movies and loud drums and watching sports can give us adrenaline rushes, and some people thrive on that. Plus watching certain sports teams or listening to certain genres of music can show our loyalties and project an image, and we can talk about those things with others. When we listen to things over and over, they become familiar, and maybe that makes us like them more. When our friends like things, we want to like them too so we can relate to our friends, and we trust their taste.

But sometimes after we stop hearing things over and over, or when our friends change, or when our friends' tastes change, we stop liking those things. Does that mean we never really liked them in the first place? Or were we just in a different place then and our taste changes as our lives change? How much of our so-called "taste" depends on the image we want to project? In 9th grade I really, really wanted to be artsy and original, and the music I liked was artsy and original. Now that I've leveled off a little, I listen to a mix of top 40, artsy music, dance music, and super obscure things that I get from friends and around the internet. (First Aid Kit = LOVE.) But I don't watch Red Sox games not because I don't want to be a part of Red Sox Nation and show my love and pride for Boston; it's because I find watching most sports to be boring as hell. (Exceptions include gynmastics, figure skating, volleyball, and synchronized diving.)

Which brings us to the most important question of all: If Neelima tries hard enough, will she ever be able to get me to enjoy watching sports?


So anyway, that's pointless ramble #1. Upcoming rambles may or may not include such topics as love and how we are all reduced to numbers that label us but don't actually quantify anything.

More Random Crap

I stole this from Peter Staley, who definitely doesn't read my blog. But I occasionally read his. I promise not to post an excessive amount of these giant-ass internet memes, but really I'm sick of facebook notes.

Start at the very beginning, what’s your name?
Liza, or Lize, or Za, or Zazu, or Lizandbeans (rhymes with "rice and beans" in a spanish accent), or Monobear, all depending on who you ask. technically though it's Elizabeth.

Do you own a pair of skinny jeans?
i think i own one...yeah i wear them with my furry winter boots

If you were invisible for a day, what would you do?
spy on people, and confuse the fuck out of everyone by throwing things, making things "hover," etc.

Does the person you like, like you back?
ehh. probably not, but i'm pessimistic and probably shouldn't rule out the possibility

What did you do last night?
went to dinner with Charly and her sister/dad, chilled at her house, switched my havermail over to google apps, went to bed

Has anybody ever given you butterflies?
yep

Are you your mum’s favorite child? 

i'd hope so...although debatable about whether she actually loves me more than our dog. (just kidding. i hope.)

Are you happy with the way things are going?
well im not the biggest fan of my job, but money's a plus. or the timing of this cold. really i just want to be back at school for customs week. but overall, yes.

Did you wake up in the middle of the night last night?
more like it took me forever and a half to fall asleep cause my nose kept being indecisive about whether or not it wanted to be stuffed up.

Sleep on your back or stomach?
both? more likely stomach. or side. i toss and turn a lot.

What were you doing before this survey?
reading Pete's blog

Do you tend to rip the paper off water bottles?
nope. anyway it bothers me too much how the part of the label where the glue is sticks and you can't get it off completely.

How long does it take for you to fall asleep at night?
too long. half an hour +, unless i'm super tired

It’s Friday night, where are you usually?
getting dinner with friends and then chilling at someone's house

What movie is in your DVD player?
none

If you could move away, no questions asked, where would you move?
i'd run away to live in Josh and Alex's apartment for the rest of the summer. does that count?

What’s the greatest thing that happened to you today?
advil cured my sore throat!

Have you ever felt like you weren’t good enough?
on occasion

What’s going on tomorrow night?
dont know yet - me and fairleigh will have to figure something out!

Do you know a lot of people with the same phone as you?
oh hey Aubree :P i know a few.

Is your hair curly or straight right now?
wavy/curly

What do you really think of Starbucks Coffee?
overpriced but delicious

Does anyone love you? 

yep :)

Want to be taller or shorter?
neither

What are you listening to?
people talking, myself typing. i kind of like the sound of typing on these keyboards.

When was the last time you really laughed? 

hmmm. i don't remember. this should be remedied.

Do you listen to music every day? 

basically

Last song you heard? 

something on the radio that i didn't know / don't remember

Is the last person that you had a conversation with a male or a female?
female

What’s the last thing you said out loud?
"i'm on it" (referring to increasing my intake of viatmin C before traveling for a week)

How was your day? 

so far, pretty dull

Describe how you feel right now in three words: 

sick, bored, excited!

If someone asked you what you wanted, what would you say?
not to have this cold!

Has a girl sat on your bed before?
omg i thought that said head. WHAT?! but yes, to the actual question.

Plans for Saturday?
bus to NYC to see two of my favorite people!!! (if you see this don't feel left out - i have a lot of favorite people and if you're reading my blog then you're probably one of them)

Who was the last person besides yourself to touch something on your face?
i have no idea.

What was your dream about last night?
aww i dont remember :(

Do you have a reason to smile right now? 

yes!

Where were you at 9 am this morning?
walking through the marketplace to get to work

Everything happens for a reason?
nope.

Day 25 - Your Day, In Great Detail

wooo self-centered rambling! well since not much of today has passed yet, i'll provide you with a detailed account of my past 24 hours. i know you can't wait because it will be thrilling.

actually, my past 24 hours has been fairly average. but i am a sheep that blogs about whatever this 30-day thinggy tells me to blog about. so here is a day in the life of Liza.

24 hours ago i was still asleep. i had woken up at 6:30 as usual, told my dad that i was taking a sick day because my throat felt like shit and i wanted to get better in time for my trip which was in two days, sent an email to the lawyers in the office, chugged water, popped a zicam, and went back to bed. that extra 5.5 hours of sleep was the most beautiful thing ever.

after waking up, i chugged more water, popped another zicam (in case you're confused, zicam is a medicine you take every 3 hours to supposedly shorten your cold), and spent about 2 hours on facebook chat talking to Josh. then i ate grapenuts with fruit for breakfast, which was about the only thing that seemed appetizing at the time, and then spent a few more hours on facebook/facebook chat talking to Josh and Neelima. also during this time i packed my suitcase for my week-long trip, which took me all of about 5 minutes. i think i'm a freak when it comes to packing.

i also worked on a certain friendship bracelet (which is coming along beautifully by the way), texted Sarah in a futile attempt to make plans, and...well really i did nothing yesterday morning/afternoon. whatever, i was sick. oh - i drank more water. a lot of water. and popped zicam. now i'm starting to sound like a drug addict...i swear i don't have like 4 different medicines in my purse right now.

and i found out that Argentina legalized gay marriage! yayyyyy Argentina!

then at around 6:30 i drove to Charly's and her dad took us and her sister out to dinner. which was kind of cheating, as my mom pointed out, because i had taken a sick day so i wasn't supposed to be social. oh well. then plans failed with both Sarah and Neelima so i chilled at Charly's for a bit after dinner and then went home. Then I attempted to switch my haverford email account from squirrelmail/thunderbird over to gmail, which was only a slight headache, but i finished before 11. i should've just gone to bed, but now i have a shiny new google apps account and everything is set up. i am probably more excited about this than i should be.

this morning i woke up at 6:30 (gross), drank water, popped zicam, got ready, and went to work. oh and i stopped at CVS to get advil, which apparently works wonders on a sore throat. now i'm multitasking by assigning documents file numbers while surfing facebook and further setting up my new haverapps account. and blogging. the end!

Continuation of Whatever Tickes My Fancy

My Belief-O-Matic results:

1. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
2. Neo-Pagan (99%)
3. Liberal Quakers (90%)
4. New Age (85%)
5. Secular Humanism (84%)
6. Mahayana Buddhism (77%)
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (77%)
8. Theravada Buddhism (75%)
9. Taoism (68%)
10. Reform Judaism (59%)
11. Nontheist (57%)
12. New Thought (50%)
13. Scientology (50%)
14. Jainism (47%)
15. Sikhism (47%)
16. Baha'i Faith (46%)
17. Hinduism (46%)
18. Orthodox Quaker (46%)
19. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (41%)
20. Orthodox Judaism (33%)
21. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (30%)
22. Seventh Day Adventist (25%)
23. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (24%)
24. Islam (24%)
25. Eastern Orthodox (20%)
26. Roman Catholic (20%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (13%)

interesting...

Day 24 - Whatever Tickles Your Fancy

I'm excited! I'm excited about many things. Mostly I'm really excited for this coming week, which I'm taking off work to go on a haverfriends-extravaganza trip. I get to see people I miss so much!

Itinerary:
Saturday - Fairleigh and I take busses to New York City and meet up with Erica
Sunday/Monday - NYC with Fairleigh and Erica, staying at Erica's
Tuesday - Fairleigh and I take a bus to Baltimore
Wednesday - Baltimore with Fairleigh
Thursday - Drive to Haverford; stay over in Alex and Josh's apartment, hopefully see Lizzy/Kelley/Ryan at some point
Friday - Stay at Haverford for awhile, then drive back to Fairleigh's in Baltimore
Saturday - I fly home

So Freakin Excited!!!!! Now that I have skype and have been video chatting with people more often, I'm starting to miss everyone even more than I already did. You don't see someone's face from talking to them on meebo or facebook chat, so I think seeing people's smiles and hearing their voices has made me miss them more. But I'll actually see people soon! Granted, I'm only seeing a few haverpeople, and thus there are many others I miss terribly whom I will not be seeing until August. But it's a start, and I'm still super pumped.

I'm also excited about customs! Freshmen get their rooms and lists go out so soon!!! Like, hopefully this week, but if not then beginning of next. I'm excited to find out who my babies are and to send them postcards and letters; I'm excited to meet them and move in and move them in and decorate the hall and share the place I love so much with new people. Granted I'm also slightly nervous. What will they be like? What will their issues be? (And there will likely be issues, but unfortunately I can't elaborate.) Will my hall be close or will it not be cohesive because that's just how it is? But Abby told me once that no matter how nervous I am about starting the year, all of them are 1000x more nervous, which is so true. I have a year of college under my belt, and they don't even know how to get between Gummere and the DC yet.

Plus I'm excited for other people! There are exciting things going on in people's lives right now, and it makes me super happy.

So in summary: yay!!! :D

Day 23 - A Youtube Video

How am I supposed to choose just one?! Ok, here's a cool one of a sand artist. She's actually really ridiculous, so I'm pretty sure it's worth eight and a half minutes of your life. Enjoy!

Day 22 - A Website

Although there are infinite blogworthy websites out there, I think the most notable might be The Cheezburger Network. It's just awesome. It also keeps me very entertained for hours on end, especially when I should be doing other things such as writing papers or generally having a life.

My personal favorites are Fail Blog, Failbook, Happy Chair is Happy, There I Fixed It, Daily Squee, Engrish Funny, and GraphJam, although I have yet to thoroughly explore all of them. I also have to credit Monday Thru Friday for keeping me entertained this summer :P (If you haven't seen pictures of my office monsters and darts, they're in my Summer 2010 facebook album.)

Since I hopefully just created a procrastination moster in anyone who has decided to click all these links, happy browsing! :)

Day 21 - A Recipe

I really wish I were better at cooking/baking than I am. But that's what you get for living in a house where you can't actually get to the oven...So here's my friend Deb's recipe for cookie dough cupcakes, because they're amazing. It's really easy - you use cake mix for the cupcakes, but you only fill up the cupcake pan thinggies halfway, then you put one cookie's worth of easy-bake cookie dough in the middle, and the cupcake bakes around it. It's DIVINE. also Deb says she hasn't found a frosting that works with it yet, and they're amazing even without frosting. I think vanilla would work fine. Yummmm :D

Day 20 - A Hobby of Yours

I've recently become even more obsessed with friendship bracelet making. How old am I? 12. I also seem to be at summer camp.

But for real, this can be a dangerous website for people like me who have the tendency to quickly become obsessed with crafts. (Or maybe it's just me.) (Side note: I knitted upwards of 14 scarves for friends and teachers during my senior year of high school.) Anyway, the site has patterns for thin bracelets, thick bracelets, even bracelets with letters and words. So far I've only made 3 and I'm on my 4th, and I think I'm winding down. But either way, making friendship bracelets has been a hobby of mine since, well, summer camp. They've just recently jumped to a new level of coolness.

Bonus for people who actually read my blog: Find a bracelet pattern on that site that's 10 strings or fewer, let me know what colors you want it in, and I'll make it for you. (Offer expires August 25, 2010, although if you ask me nicely I'll probably do it after that anyway.)

Since I conveniently happen to have taken pictures of the last couple of bracelets I made:






Also, for your amusement, I just came across this video. Despite what I may say about my summer job, thankfully I have not quite reached this point.

Day 19 - A Talent of Yours

Making playlists and mix CDs. I know, it's silly and random. I like making playlists for roadtrips and events or even just for sitting out on the green or driving late at night, and they usually go well with the energy level and the people involved. People have told me that they like the playlist we're listening to or that they love the CD I made them and listen to it all the time, so I guess it's a sort of talent. Plus I really like doing it, which makes it all the better. :)

Day 18 - Whatever Tickles Your Fancy

wooo freewrite! although once again i'm not sure what to write about. well Lindsay Lohan is in jail. supposedly. poor Lindsay...she was so cute as 8-year-old twins. well it's 9:30 in the morning and i can't think of anything to write about. i'm excited that i'm on day 2 of a 3-day work week - monday was a holiday and i'm taking friday off to go to Martha's Vineyard with people (we'll see how that goes...fun? relaxing? complete and total dramatic chaos?). clearly my thoughts are really exciting and blog-worthy right now. ummm...have a photo!

Day 17 - An Art Piece (Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Etc.)

First of all, photos are art pieces too. But there have already been a lot of photos, so I'll find something else.

This isn't really a painting, drawing, or sculpture - it's more of an etc. It's a mosaic installation on South Street in Philadelphia called the Magic Gardens, and I think it's a really cool place. Plus it was all done by one guy, which is really just incredible. I love to go there and just sit on this bench in one corner and stare at it all.

A couple of pictures I've taken there:

Day 16.5 - Ramble

Edit: I'm taking this post down and reposting it as a facebook note. I can monitor the privacy settings on that, but I'm not sure how on this. Sorry!

Day 16 - A Song That Makes You Cry (Or Nearly)

Prayer of the Children by Kurt Bestor. It's so moving, and so sad. I don't even remember which conflict or situation it was written for, but it just makes me think of war and violence and genocide and all those unbelievably shitty things that people - children - have to go through. Take a listen; see what I mean.

Day 15 - A Fanfic

I really don't read fanfics. So here is something better: