The Reason I've Foregone Deletion

So good people, it’s like this. I’ve got a thing for Middle Easterners. I don’t know how to explain it – I just like ‘em… that is, until they pull shenanigans on me. This is a story of exactly that. Not too many weeks ago I was having a delightful conversation with two of my Assyrian buddies, one of whom I tend to trust. We usually attempt to add to my pathetically meager Assyrian vocabulary and this day was no exception. I eagerly soaked up the words “ikhreh erah” which, it was explained, is an endearing term that expresses fond appreciation for another’s aesthetic appeal… in other words, “you look pretty.”

Armed with this pleasant knowledge I went about my life, fully prepared to employ my arsenal of charm whenever appropriate circumstances arose. Today was one such circumstance. I walked upstairs to the breakroom to take my lunch whereupon I was greeted by my Assyrian friend Ramsina and her 2 ½ year old niece. The niece and I fell into easy chatter, comprised mostly of gibberish and clucking. Aware that the precious child is fluent in Assyrian only I looked her dead square in the eye and, summoning every ounce of dictional bravery I proclaimed that she was, indeed, ikhreh erah. Her steady stream of nonsense continued uninterrupted whereas her aunt, my dear coworker, blanched. She exclaimed, “Don’t say that around her!!!! Do you EVEN know what that means?!” Astounded at the reaction I intimated that apparently I did not. Gracious as ever, she explicated the terminology which, as it turns out, has far more to do with fecal matter and genitalia than anything resembling affectionate beauty. Furthermore, the weapons of wit I had discharged appear to be exceedingly appropriate for the nautical riffraff (and by this I mean dirty pirate hookers), rather than genteel company due to their excessively vulgar nature. Apologizing profusely I made my escape, shared the anecdote with two other Assyrian fellows who found a great deal of mirth in the unfortunate episode. As soon as I figure out how to retaliate I anticipate discovering a kernel of hilarity as well – in the meantime I’m reminded of the folly of believing men. Risky business, every time.

I'm kind of bored...

With this blog.  I might go ahead and delete it.  Fair warning has been issued.

The Great Dread Grow of '08

So my friend JJ is growing dreadlocks. I like the idea of tracking progress via blog & this is the best thing that's come up lately - here's phase 1:

Growing up is hard to do...

I guess I'm more or less grown up by now, but there's something to be said about the solidification of character. I read this book once that made this point: the acorn has everything it needs to become an oak tree. All of the codification is implicit in its nature - all it requires are the proper conditions to transform from mobile nugget to a mighty arbor. I was thinking on this & then thought of the latter steps in this development. Have you ever seen green wood? I'm talking about a new branch that's been around long enough to become more than a twig? The wood inside is soft & malleable - if you twist it or bend it, resist it or form it you'll find that it responds with easy compliance. What's been interesting to me is how the wood hardens in whatever shape you place it.

So what, you say? Who cares one way or the other, you ask? Good question... please track with me in this analogy. We may be "trees" in that our spiritual life is more or less grounded. We've put down some roots in our faith and are continuing a growing process, fueled by proper conditions and the all the spiritual matter we could ever require. But our character, or the shape of the tree, is ever changing. I find that lately I'm cultivating a character that I don't necessarily want to solidify in my life. I'm having a great time living the way I do right now, but when I think of the woman I want to be down the road, I am afraid that by virtue of not shaping my "branches" intentionally I'm allowing them to become something I'll have to deal with, painfully, later. I wonder if one of the great lies I buy into is that so long as "bad" stuff isn't a part of my life, that I won't have to deal with bad consequences. That's the tricky thing about trying to be an exceptional human being - it requires exceptional effort and exceptional standards. I wish I were okay with mediocrity.

I walked in on my dad doing something weird today...

watching a Jackie Chan movie originally filmed in Chinese, but dubbed in Spanish. He was into it.

Sad Times

I promise I'll post a happy blog again soon, but for today it's a very sad time. We had to put our beloved dog Isabelle down last night and my mom is simply heartbroken. If you think of it, please pray for her. This sweet dog was a constant in a tumultuous 13 years of Sasser life. It's a horrible thing that she was suffering, and it's a horrible thing that only death would make the suffering stop. What a screwy, dumb world sometimes.

Some days you just shouldn't get up

Last night I was on my way to meet a friend for a good ol' cup o' joe & checked my bank balance just to make sure my mental balanced matched the actual fiscal situation as recorded by my bank. You can imagine my shock when the numbers repeated back to me amounted to several hundred dollars less than what I had anticipated. Today I scurried to the bank to ask for a printout of account activity for the past few weeks & found several transactions which I certainly did not make. I objected to the teller immediately & asked if she might look up the details. A point of sale transaction totaling $462 was made in BFE Pennsylvania at... wait for it... KMart!!!!!! Having never (ever) made a purchase at KMart (much less stepped foot in ye olde PA in over 2 years) I was confident that the economic interaction was fraudulent. I had to fill out a claim for the malfeasance, cancel my debit card & order a new one, as well as try to make sure I withdrew enough cash to pay for my three-day weekend. Just color me incensed at this point. The good news is that as soon as my bank completes their investigation and concludes that I have NOT been running a small-scale bicoastal scam, they'll reimburse my account. In the meantime it just makes for a fun little story, yes?