Dinner, Dancing, and Dirt

I don't know if it's a good or a bad thing when people say they are living vicariously through my life/stories. I guess I'm flattered that people find my life so interesting, but normally I feel like my life is full of drama. And what's funny about that is I am usually pretty drama free. It's the people around me (aka boys) that create the drama. The ladies at school are always eager to listen to my stories from the weekend. They are all married, so they love to hear how I meet guys. They love to hear about my dates. They love to hear the sweet things. They love to hear the restaurants we checked out, or the dance places we tried, or the creative date that the boy planned.

I did not disappoint them this Monday morning. I had told them about my upcoming date with Josh, so they quickly came running for story time. With a smile on my face, I told them about my time with Josh.

Josh and I met for dinner Saturday evening. He came bearing a yellow rose, which I thought was sweet. I've never gotten a flower from a guy before, so I thought it was cute he had considered doing it. We enjoyed a nice conversation during dinner while listening to Zac Brown (see this post to read about my ZB crush). Ironically enough, Josh kind of looks like ZB, but that's beside the point.

After dinner, he humored me and we watched the Husker game together. He had previously informed me that the Huskers were going to get creamed, but he quickly took back his words as the Huskers led for most of the game. At half time, we decided to put on our dancing shoes and head to the Grizzly Rose.

At the Rose, we sat at the bar and had a few drinks while watching the rest of the game (a sad ending). I was depressed, so we decided to hit the dance floor and dance the night away. He's a good dancer, and I'm good at faking to be a good dancer, so we had a good time doing the Cha Cha, the two-step and we even tried our hand at the triple step.

At the end of the night, we said our goodbyes, and he mentioned wanting to go to church with me, so we made plans to meet up the following morning. Yesterday, we went to church together. We then had lunch at Pei Wei and then we ventured onto car talk. I made mention that my engine light had been on (for almost a year). He gave me a stern look (something like my father would give) and said, "And you've never done anything about it?" I ashamedly said NO, to which he replied, "Let's go take a look."

We got my car and he took me to an auto store where they do free diagnostics. The guy at the store was busy, so he gave the diagnostic thingy to Josh and Josh ran the test himself. He must have understood what the diagnostic thingy told him because he went back into the store and started asking questions about parts/repairs/costs. It was all gibberish to me, so I stood there and looked nice while the guys talked. Josh wanted to take a look inside my engine, so we went outside to "pop the hood."

While Josh was looking inside my hood for certain parts (cylinders, maybe?-there are six of them), I was again trying to look nice while certainly not knowing what was going on. As Josh got his hands dirty looking in the hood, I saw a random part just sitting in there. Since the guy inside had shown us what the cylinder thingy looked like, I knew what Josh was looking for. This thing sitting randomly in there looked just like the cylinder that the guy inside had shown us. I picked it up (it wasn't connected to anything-again, it was just sitting there on top) and said, "Josh, is that what you're looking for?"

Why yes, yes it was. There was a random cylinder just sitting in my engine, not connected to anything. I got the giggles. Josh was confused as why it was just sitting there. I guess that question will never be answered, other than whoever last worked on my car forgot to throw it away/put it back where it belonged. Josh thought maybe this solved the problem with my car (if it was missing a cylinder, this would explain why the engine light was on and why I was having problems with my car). We went back to my place to get the tools. Josh spent some time looking in my car and discovered that all six cylinders are in place (so this was just a random part someone forgot to throw away). Three of the cylinders are easily replaceable. Three of them are not (hidden far, far away in the engine). He said he would have to do some research to figure out how to reach those other three cylinders.

We then spent the rest of the afternoon watching the Broncos lose (yet again).

Overall, it was a good weekend with a really nice guy. There are many qualities that I like about Josh, and we decided to see each other again soon. We had a lot of laughs together, and I'm looking forward to seeing him again.

day 14. a photo of one of your favourite family members

I recently wrote about my family, who are all fabulous. When I saw the topic for Day 14, I wasn't going to do the blog, for obvious reasons. But then Grandma Van came to mind. She truly is one of the neatest, coolest, adorable people I know. I wish I had a recent picture with Grandpa Bill because I would include him, too.

Grandma Van, while still holding some old fashioned views (ANY drinking is bad, tattoos are of the devil, piercings are off limits), she has one of the purest hearts I know. She once gave all us grand kids a book called Sipping Saints, which talked about Christians drinking. To this day, she still doesn't know I have tattoos, and hopefully I'll never break her heart with that news. She once said in front of my friend, Hannah, who has a belly button piercing, "Girls who have piercings are hussies." She, of course, didn't know Hannah had a piercing, so Hannah and I giggled to ourselves.

Despite these long-held beliefs, she loves. She loves us grand kids. She loves her husband of 66 years. She loves her children. She loves her great-grand kids. She loves to encourage. She loves to pray. She loves to send snail mail. She loves to receive snail mail. She loves to hear about our day. She loves.

And because of this wonderful little lady, she has taught me to love. I can't even express to you have wonderful Grandma Van is, and Grandpa Bill makes her a complete person. They truly do complete each other. Grandpa Bill is probably the funniest person I know, and they are true role models of how I want to model my marriage. They are more in love today than they were 66 years ago, and while I'll never hit 66 years of marriage, I know I'll have a long, healthy marriage because of what they have shown me.

day 12. a photo of you AND day 13. a photo of you that your hair looks nice in

Here's a picture of me....AND my hair looks nice. Might as well combine the two. This picture is cropped from this picture below...

day 11. a photo of your favourite film(s)

Three movies come to mind when I think of my favorite movies. They are oldies but goodies.

The Rock has some great lines, and it makes me laugh every single time.

Pretty Woman is my all time fave. It's a great love story, and my favorite scene is when she tries to buy clothes from the snotty women. They look down on her, so she goes to a different store and spends a TON of money. She, along with all her shopping bags, goes back to the first store and says, "You work on commission, right? Mistake. Big Mistake." And she walks out. You go, girl!

day 10. a photo of you as a baby

I'm sorry, but I can't do this one. My mom has all my baby pictures. And my mom lives in Nebraska. And my mom doesn't have a scanner. And my mom wouldn't know how to scan even if she did have a scanner. So therefore, no baby picture from me (at least for the time being).

I will say, though, that I was darn cute! Blonde hair. Blue eyes. Big smile. I was adorable.

day 9. a photo of your family

I've been looking forward to this blog post. My family is great, and I understand that most people would say that about their family, but I really do have a cool family. My parents are young and active. My sister married a GREAT guy. My brother married a FANTASTIC woman. Together, they have created the most ADORABLE children. I truly am blessed. Doug, Sally, Jeff, Shannon, Me, Katie, and Collin

Me, Collin, and Shannon

Do we look alike?

Sally, Me, Katie, and Shannon

Of course, my family wouldn't be complete without Grandma Van and Grandpa Bill. I don't know how I will live without them, as they are so sweet and dear to me.

And these precious little ones keep me smiling. Siahna isn't in this picture, but she's included when I say that these five little ones are what I live for. I couldn't imagine my life without any one of them.

Carson, Kyler, Case, and Corinne

Carson, the oldest of my brother's, is about to turn 7 and is in 1st grade. He's the mature one of the group, and he's really great with Case and Corinne.

Kyler (Kye Lou) is about to turn 5, and he's the wild one of the crew. He's my brother's middle child (like me), and man, he is a hoot! He adores Case and Corinne, but they also fight quite a bit.

Corinne (Quinny Lou) is my precious 2 year old niece. Actually, she'll turn 2 on Dec. 30, and she's such a great little girl. She's the toughest little girl I know (Kye throws her around), but she's also the sweetest. She's my brother's youngest.

Case (Casey Lou) is my sister's oldest, and he's 2.5 years old. He adores his cousins, and he's a great big brother to Siahna. He's so sweet, and he calls me Dido.

Siahna (Si Si Lou) is the youngest of the crew and my sister's youngest. She's the last niece and/or nephew I'll ever get, and she's been a great addition to the family. Corinne adores Siahna (Ahna) and just likes to pet her.

As you can see, not only do I have a great family, but I have a good looking family. I look forward to adding a husband to the mix one day and also having kids of my own to join in the crazy fun with their cousins.

Hinduism

Hinduism
“liberation”

* Historical Background
-Vedic Hinduism
*Pre-1500 BC:
-focus on nature/agriculture for worship; no remains of temples
- mother goddess, male god, phallic god
*15,00 BC Aryan invasion
-additional gods/specification: Indra (atmosphere), Aguni (fire), Varuna (sky), and Soma (Soma plant)
-sacrificial rituals
-Castes develop: Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, Shudras, Outcastes
*1,000- 600 BC Priestly Hinduism
-The World Soul: priest's are mouth piece
-The Vedas produced: hymns, prayers, ritual instruction, and cosmos
*800-600 BC
-Development of manifestations (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva)
-Development of Samsara, moksha, and karma
-Vedas Canonized and Upanishads accepted scripture
*600 BC- 1750 AD
-Four Stages of Life (student, householder, hermit, ascetic)
-Shakti approach: focus on feminine
-development of Hare Krishna

*Basic Theology (polytheistic)
*gods:
-estimated over 330 million gods and goddesses
-Brahaman developed over historical development:
-Nirguna Brahaman (without attributes)
-Saguna Brahaman (with attributes)
-Brahaman (the Creator), Vishnu (the Preserver), and Siva
(the Destroyer)
-Avatars (10 mythical incarnations): animals (tortoise, boar, fish) and people (Rava, Krishna, Buddha
-impersonal and without distinctions (including moral and personal)
*Humanity:
-“that thou art”: humanity (atman)
-same as or extensions of Brahaman (e.g. essence = air inside a jar is the same as air outside jar)
-humanity is ignorant of divine nature
-ignorance causes attachment to desires, individuality thus creating karma
-caught in endless cycle of Samsara (reincarnation)
*Salvation and Afterlife:
-Moksha (liberation) from cycle of reincarnation
-liberation through realizing individual self is an illusion
-paths to enlightenment: karma marga (action and ritual), jnana
marga (knowledge and meditation), and bhakti marga (devotion)
-merge into “oneness” at enlightenment
*Practices and
lifestyle:
-performance of rituals (sunrise and sunset/ men and women)
-Nonviolence leads to careful consideration of all life (including spiders)
-Yoga: physical and mental
-Recitation of mantra “OM”


Additional clarification:

There is a large portion dedicated to the historical background (which is very briefly covered) because Hinduism adds multiple gods due to events. Little is known about the habits or worship Pre-1500 BC with the exception of the three main god concepts (mother, male, and phallic).

The Aryan invasion brought with it new gods. Nature based polytheistic religions will continue to add new gods to the existing system instead of replace the old gods. The development of the caste system becomes increasingly important because it represents and individuals stage on their path towards Nirvana. The lower they are in the caste system, the more bad karma they have collected. This reinforced the interaction between the different castes. From highest to lowest ranking, the classes are as follows: Brahmins (priests), Rajanyas (later Kshatriyas- warriors and rulers), Vaishyas (land owners, bankers, and merchants), Shudras (workers), and Outcastes (untouchables). There are approximately 3,000 subdivisions or subcastes from those listed above.

Initially Brahaman was a great void without attributes. This carried with it the idea of nothingness and fits with the concept that there are no individuals and thus no personality or attributes. The story of life is that at one point Nirguna Brahaman had a dream. Humanity currently lives in the dream world. Only later did Brahaman develop attributes and then appear as Brahaman (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) and Siva (the destroyer). This fits more aptly into the idea of reincarnation and the cycle that all of humanity is trapped in. The Avatars are other, later incarnations (ways to express and see Brahaman).

Life began to be planned out in stages. The student stage occurs between ages 8 and 12 when the boy is given a mentor (usually a guru or spiritual teacher) and begins to learn from him. The householder stage occurs at marriage and continues until the hermit stage that occurs after the birth of the first grandchild. The ascetic marks any point in life when the individual left all behind him and engaged in a spiritual quest.

The Shakti approach is one where the feminine attributes and the mother goddess is the prime focus of worship. Hare Krishna is an approach to Hinduism founded in the belief that all that attracts us is good and thus part of the eternal soul. While Shakti approach the divine through feminist models, Hare Krishnas seek out energy (often found in pleasurable things).

Humanity is made up of aggregates. These are the evil or good parts. At death if someone has 10 aggregates, some will be negative and some positive. If that individual has 6 negative and 4 positive, when he/she dies the aggregates will split apart in the dream world. In the next life, that individual will receive a mixture of ten aggregates (not necessarily the ones from the previous life) with 6 negative and 4 positive.

A Hindu’s greatest desire is to escape the continual cycle of reincarnation and become part of the eternal essence again. The must choose to work towards that though actions, meditation, or devotion. It is important to do as much good as possible to not gain any more bad karma and work off previous bad karma.

Some Hindus take care to perform multiple rituals exactly as done historically as well as practice non-violence to the point where they will walk with a broom in front of them to make sure and sweep any bugs out of harms way.