Perspective....

I hesitate to call it a New Year's Resolution because I'm hoping that it can be a lifelong adaptation - but I'm trying to seriously reevaluate the ways in which I use my time (I'm wont to have a child-sized attention span). Sometimes I think that the universe reaches out to confirm your resolutions. Take today, for example, and what I found on a charming little blog I sometimes (by which I mean when google.reader indicates it's been updated) peruse....

'We are more likely to fail as craftsmen, I argue, due to our inability to organize obsession than because of lack of ability'

-Richard Sennett

The Craftsman

*Image and quote courtesy of A Little House in the Clouds*

...In the Meantime

The whole idea of this picture is so wonderfully fanciful to me....

[found here]

Requiem for Chivalry...

Last night, on my way home from taking my mom to the airport (hey mom!) I was [unfortunately] privy to a Sleeping Beauty tale - of sorts.

*For sake of back story, it may be interesting to note that couples who are wont to, ahem, be publically affectionate gravitate towards me. Me. The blushingest girl in Haifa. Le sigh*

So this couple is sitting behind me and I'm happily listening to The Talking Heads and generally minding my own business. All of a sudden the guy is all.up.on this girl - and she's telling him off in rapid-fire Hebrew. After a while, she begins to intermittently weave in English and this is literally what she says: "I've been trying to sleep all night...".

Okay. So I'm going to put myself on pause and talk to the handful of guys who read my blog - and, hopefully successfully, explain why we ladies (I mean me) like fairy tales so well. I'm not going to lie (and yes, I'm blushing right now), but every girl has day dreamed about being woken with a kiss at least once. Every. Girl. But on a bus? In the middle of the night? Um... hecks to the no.

So here I am, already trying not to be sick - and looking for anything to distract me from the anti-romantic wonder behind me, when, from farther behind me still I hear English. Okay, I know that a lot of people in Israel speak English - but not usually as a first choice. But a young lady and two yound me were speaking with each other in a language I actually understand - and I swear I wasn't eavesdropping, but I sort of just absorbed parts of their conversation.
The girl had apparently asked the guys to escort her home - and they were bold enough to ask her why. At which point they began to tease her and ask if she were afraid to go home alone. After a few minutes of them teasing her, she finally admitted that it made her nervous to go home alone. They refused to help their friend and non-chalantly informed her that she'd be fine as she rather dejectedly got off the bus.

Friends, I'm not proud of what I'm about to tell you - but it's like I was possessed, or something. I couldn't help myself. It's probably not the classiest thing I've ever done, but I turned around, gave them the stink eye, and shook my head in their general direction. Which they saw... and commented upon thusly:
"I think that girl just shook her head at us for not walking ___ to her door."
[Insert sheepish grin] ...I turned around and confirmed their suspicions.

Before my soap box crushes from the weight of my self-righteousness, let me say that it's not easy for independent young women (I mean me?) to admit that she needs help. Please offer (I mean men - mostly.) from time to time. If she is so moved to ask that you make she gets home safely, oblige her. And please, never make her ask twice. Preserve everyone's dignity. Give chivalry a chance.

DISCLAIMER: the men I am friends with are almost uniformly and extremely chivalrous. The characters in this story, while real, are strangers.

P.S. good manners are for everyone. And a little note to the women: accepting help graciously when it is offered does not mean or imply that you are weak or inferior. If it makes you feel better, hold the door for the person after you next time.

Subtitles Optional...

I hope, and rather trust, that it won't surprise you to learn that I love words and language. I especially love how organic language is. Language is one of those things where once you understand the fundamentals, you can get really creative and begin to have fun. Enter my obsession with words. For example, let me introduce you to metropolotanize.
Metropolotanize /met-ruh-pol-i-t'nyz/ v. To make one more able to fit into metropolitan culture. - ORIGIN from metropolis: the main city of a country or region (from the Greek).
This word came up from a conversation I had with my friends Abi and Nasim. We're going to have sushi this week (mine will be vegetarian - I do remember the mess Prometheus suffered just so we could cook our food) and I thought about how you never know what adventures your life is preparing you for.
P.S. nouns into verbs? I'm not very original there.... Milton (ahem. Sir John) was pretty famous for it. Just saying.

Peaceful Contemplation...

Sometimes I think I'm really clever - this is one of those times. It goes like this:
Doves are the symbol of peace. My friend Devon Gundry is really peaceful. Still with me? Ok, good. Now, contemplate the following video with the added benefit of Devon's lovely lyrics. Right? Yeah, me too.

P.S. My friend Devon is a super talented artist. Keep your eyes peeled, I'll probably put some more of his great stuff up in the future.

Caution: Big Plans Falling...

I'm not 100% sure what to make of New Year's Resolutions... suffice it to say that I'm not sure about the timing - I'm pretty positive about the resolve. Whether you have plans to last you a year or you make positive resolutions every day - I hope you're all happy this year!

Courtesy of Le Love - I'm kind of obsessed with love, just in case you were confused....

I'm not sure where I'll end up when I leave my service here in the Holy Land, but I'm pretty positive that I want to be in a place with fantastic public transportation.

Just because it's 2009, doesn't mean that I've dropped my CHS tendencies - nor do I resolve to - but how beautiful is this dress?

This one I got from Post Secret - pretty dang cute, huh?

*yes, I still love mail*

I Feel Pretty... Oh So Pretty!

This picture was taken just before the program of the Celebration of the Birth of the Báb began - I promise that the color scheme was unintentional (you know how I hate to be all 'matchy-matchy), but I'm also a sucker for a good pattern... (OCD much?). Anyhow, this picture actually reminds me of a prayer from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, son of Bahá'u'lláh (Prophet Founder of the Bahá'í Faith).
"O Thou Provider! The dearest wish of this servant of Thy Threshold is to behold the friends of East and West in close embrace; to see all the members of human society gathered with love in a single great assemblage, even as individual drops of water collected in one mighty sea; to behold them all as birds in one garden of roses, as pearls of one ocean, as leaves of one tree, as rays of one sun." - ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
...kind of amazing when you think about it like that, huh?