i feel lonely during love stories, romantic movies, love songs, and PDA in the mall.

i feel lonely when i hear a girl laugh and grin back at her boy

or when i see him look at her when she doesn’t notice.

i feel lonely when i think about my past relationship

or when i feel old and like all the good guys got taken.

i feel lonely when i see Anna and Donovan all mushy

or when everyone else has a date.

i feel lonely when someone else is bragging over their significant other

or when older relatives/friends ask “So you got you a man yet?”

i feel lonley after a long spell of not being social

or when i dress up nice and no one notices.

i feel lonely when i try to plan a guy into my future

and he’d better show up by a deadline.

but

i am so happy to be single when i see a guy look over the shoulder of his girl

to catch the eye of the girl behind them.

I am so happy to be single when i overhear couples arguing about finances, emotions,

or whatever of a million problems that show up in a relationship.

i am so happy to be single when a friend complains to me about her boy

or i plan my week and take off time just for me and no one else.

i am so happy to be single when i can travel and feel free to leave the country

or when there are just SO MANY amazing guys.

i am so happy to be single when a girl tells me of her three current crushes–

besides her current boyfriend.

i am so happy to be single when i realize i really don’t know myself well

and i need to get my ducks in a better row.

i am so happy to be single when i just don’t feel social

or when i have a zit on my face and don’t want to go anywhere.

*

i haven’t decided which list is longer.

requested by jayanthcm, and completed on receipts on Monday:

How to get angry (well, you have to do the negative to get to the positive…or visa versa…)

1. Be a perfectionist

2. Be touchy

3. Take it personal

4. Dwell on the negative

5. Forget the positive

6. Don’t compromise

7. Always be right

8. Make hasty judgment

9. Carry a chip on your shoulder

10. Don’t get enough sleep

11. Always get your way

12. Build up frustration

13. Hold it in and don’t talk about it

14. Bad communication

15. No communication

*

How to stop beggin angry:

1. Relax

2. See the big picture

3. Surrender your “rights” to God

4. Don’t take it personally

5. Give the benefit of the doubt

6. Dwell on the positive

7. If there is nothing positive, just go to bed early and wait for a new day

8. Compromise

9. Laugh instead

10. Get enough sleep/ healthy habits

11. Talk about your frustration when you first have it

12. Don’t bottle it up

13. Practice good communication

14. Never give the silent treatment

15. Think of ways this problem/irritation can help/benefit you in the long run

16. Count your blessings

17. Seperate yourself from the situation for a moment to get collected

18. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger–simply because God said not to. that is a good reason.

19. Let God take care of it–He can get them back better than you can

20. grrr. i really wanted 20. but i can’t think of the last one. now i am ANGRY.

Ethics class today explored cultural relativism.

Anthropology has found three common values/moral codes in every society:

Don’t murder

Don’t lie

Make sure that enough children are raised/cared for to continue the tribe/group/whatever

that was it. some added insest, but that was too hard to define where the line was and so on. Depressing.

Are there universal laws? codes? that are true whether or not we live them, awknowledge them, or anything? i believe there is.

the more i take this class the happier i am that God is in the class sitting next to me. The happier i am that i have made a choice. The choice that His way is the way for me. It settles so many questions. While the teacher is discussing the theories and different options and objective rules and subjective rules, i stop and realize–i don’t have to find everything right. I don’t have to sort through it to get to some put together something of what would be called “Rachel’s ethics.” Sure, i am walking through life, which means constant learning and re-learning and seeing things differently and all those lovely and hard things…and i will sit in this class and listen and think for myself…but i’ve made a choice…God’s way. and what He says goes.

Rachel’s understanding (so far) of God’s universal laws:

#1 Love

It is right to love

it is wrong to not love (that would include murder)

#2 Purity/Holiness

It is right to be pure and holy

it is wrong to be impure in thought (lust), word (lying), or action (sex outside of marriage)

#3 Priorities

it is right to have God first (Sabbath–the first day is His, tithe–the first money is His…)

it is wrong to have anything else first–idols, substitutes

#4 Weaker Brother

it is right to do anything you have faith is right

it is wrong to do anything that causes someone else to stumble

*

There is more…i am sure. I didn’t even put Jesus being the only way in there. this is so complex! ahhhh!  Maybe people would call me untolerant to say this. to say that these rules apply to everyone. to Indians. to Africans. to Cubans. to those 200 years ago and 2000 years ago.

and then you can have all the other arguments…what is “love?” “purity?” “faith?” and so on…and redefine everything…this just happened to be what i thought of.

my education is not complete. but all the answers are there. In the Bible.

by Calvin Miller

(The Singer to the Friendship seller–representing Jesus and a prostitute) “We sometimes give ourselves to hate in masquerade and only think it is love. and all our lives we sing the song we thought was right…listen while i sing for you a song of love.

She listened and knew for the first time she was hearing all of love there was. She sobbed and sobbed in shame, “Forgive me, Father-Spirit, for i am sinful and undone…for singing weary years of all the wrong words…

He left her in the street and walked away, and as he left he heard her singing his new song. And when he turned to wave the final time he saw her shaking her head to a friendship buyer. She would not take his money. And from his little distance, the Singer heard her use his very words.

“Are you betrothed? the buyer asked her.

“No, only loved.” She answered.

“And do you pay for love?”

“No, but i owe it everything.” ”

(The Singer to the World Hater–guess who that represents) “How did you manage to make them cherish all this nothingness? He asked the World Hater.

“I simply make them feel embarrassed to admit that they are incomplete. a man would rather close his eyes than see himself as your Father-Spirit does. i teach them to exalt their emptiness and thus preserve the dignity of man.”

“they need the dignity of God.”

“You tell them that. i sell a cheaper product.”

(A healed girl to the Singer–about his wounded hands after resurrection) “Please Singer, make them well.”

“They are well, there is no pain now.”

“But they are scarred and wounded. how can they be well?”

“Earthmaker leaves the scars, for they preserve the memory of pain. He will leave my hands this way so men will not forget what it can cost to be a singer in a theater of hate.”

“But the word…the word they wrote upon your face is gone” (they had written LIAR on his forehead)

“It is,” he said, “because Earthmaker cannot bear a lie. He could not let me wear the word for he is Truth. He knows no contradiction in himself. so learn this, my little friend, no man may burn a label into flesh and make it stay when heaven disagrees.”

“But did the Father-Spirit agree with all the other things they did to your hands and feet?”

“He wished they had not done it…but yes, he did agree that without these wounds Terra could not know how much he loved her. You will find, my child, that love rarely ever reaches out to save except it does it with a broken hand.”

She seemed to understand, and because he loved her childish eyes so much he made her ready for the future.

“Do you love me child?” he asked.

“With all my heart.” she answered.

“It may be hard to give me all i ask. not long ago, in the name of love, i gave you (healed your) legs. yesterday that very love demanded mine. But the Song is all that matters. it may be you will have to sing it where the crowd will shout you down and demand your legs or life. but it would be far better to give up them both than to surrender up the music in your soul. some will hate you for the song you love. but no matter how they treat you, remember that i suffered everything before you. And if they should brand you with a name across your face…”

“It cannot stay, if heaven disagrees.” She finished his statement.

He had stretched her small philosophy.

There are so many places in the world

there are so many things to do and ways to help people

there are so many good causes

sometimes i wonder if i hold on to Brasil as a security blanket “oh, i am sorry, i can’t help you because i am already doing this, this and this in Brasil” and i shoo them away…at least i shoo away the thoughts in my head.

there are hurting people everywhere. in every economic strata–the poor, the rich, the middle class–how can you choose one? just one? sex trade, disaster relief, current day slavery, poverty, starvation, digging wells, abortion, prisons, homosexuality, other religions…my gosh there are needs and ideas and programs and good people with visions…

there is more than enough need just here in my neighborhood, if i just reached out. serving at church. street evangelism, the youth center.

my heart gets yanked at every call to help and i say “i can’t possibly help them all” or that i don’t have time because i am already busy helping. and i go on.

Is life about finding my one place and then ignoring all the others? i want to find my voice. and be sure it is mine.

but will i just become another voice in so many, pulling people along for my share of their hearts?

Children are dying, they don’t have water, they don’t have food, they don’t have education. Do we understand what it means to live on a dollar a day, like 1 billion people do? or 2 dollars, like 3 billion more people live off of–more than half of the world population? have YOU ever tried it? THAT is the majority. THAT is what is normal.

not me.

Not me and my car. my nice job in a nice mall surrounded by nice people. my nice education where we talk about what is happiness. my house. my bathtub where i use lots of water. my full refrigerator that i open and stair at, wondering what to eat today. my bank account. my closet full of clothes.

But what do i want to do about it? do i want to save lies so they don’t die? do i want them to get to live on 3 dollars a day, or 4, or 5? do i want them to work their way out of being a statistic? is that my goal?

i want to help. i want to help in every way–i want them to live, i want them to live a healthy, better life…i want them to have a chance to learn and love and laugh. i want them to know Jesus and feel His love in all those lonely moments. i guess…i just want to love them. all of them.

but it is hard. it is like i have this little reserveoir of love and it runs out so quickly. ir is like i can choose such and so number of people to “bestow” my love upon, and then the rest get ignored. i just don’t have time. and God, you say to love EVERYONE.

how?

EDIT: credit to where credit is due at bottom.

i am so very happy. because 45 was the end of my creativity. and my teacher said “100 or nuttin.”

so here it is you lovely people you:

100 things to do with a paper clip. besides clip paper:

1. Hold your pants up

2. Use it in the place of a button

3. Back scratcher

4. Magnetize it and use for a magnet

5. Connect them and make a necklace

6. Connect them and make a bracelet

7. Earrings

8. Hold pantyhose up

9. Pick a lock

10. Make a rubbing

11. Key chain holder

12. Clip them to your fingernails and tap the counter with them

13. Clip them to your teeth for fangs

14. Toothpick

15. Connect them for a chain

16. Play limbo with the chain

17. Use the chain for Christmas tree decorations

18. Use to hang ornaments on the tree

19. Use the chain for a measuring guide

20. Use for pins in “Pin the Tail on the Donkey”

21. Self-defense weapon–poke out an attacker’s eye

22. Clean your nails

23, Clean the cracks between the tile

24. Soap carving

25. Etching your name into the gross bathroom wall

26. Bookmark

27. Balloon popper

28. Reshape into an art sculpture

29. Straighten and play “Pick up Sticks”

30. Straighten and use as mini-drum sticks to beat to the music

31. Shape into a heart and give it to your valentine

32. Reshape into a napkin ring

33. Make it into a ring

34. Reshape into stick people and make a village

35. Reshape into stick people and make an army. Stage a battle with the village.

36. Use as pins for sewing

37. Use as pins to stick into voodoo dolls

38. Stick into marshmallows and make 3D sculptures

39. Stop clothes from sliding off hangers

40. Make a chain and use as a jump rope

41. Make a chain and use as a clothes line

42. Straighten out and use for shish-ka-bob sticks

43. Reshape and then stick one in an eraser for a pencil topper

44. Marshmallow roasting stick (for over a very little fire or candle)

45. Stick it into a cake to see if it is fully cooked

46. Paint them and glue to picture frames as decoration…
47. Put them in a drawer and hide stuff under them
48. Use as “weight” on a paper airplane
49. “Cargo” in a toy motorized train
50. Glue to wood and bend a bit to make into a key holder by your front door.

51. Clip to nose and pretend to be a bull.

52. As a money clip

53. As a fish hook

54. To clean your nose (carefully).

55. To clean your ears (very carefully). Maybe with a cotton ball on the end.

56. Melt down and use as dental filling (Panamanians do with pop can tabs).

57. Hook many together and make play “chain mail”

58. As a replacement for a $25 change key on an ATM safe door lock. (Requires pushing two very small buttons at once and the holes are exactly the size of a paperclip)
59. Pushing those little reset buttons on electronics.
60. Use them to test electric motors and solenoids by connecting the hot to a ground on the motor.

61. Use to close a bag of chips to keep them fresh
62. Give a handful to a child and just see what happens
63. Keep your shoes on when you’ve lost your shoelaces
64. Hold glasses together when you’ve lost the screw
65. Unbend and create a small hook to retrieve things you’ve lost in tight
spaces
66. Unbend and use to clean out a strainer that has dried food stuck in
the holes
67. Unbend and use to draw pictures in wet sand
68. Cover several with different colors of electrical tape and twist
together in creative ways to make a beautiful work of art
69. In a pinch, use them like a trail of breadcrumbs so you can find your
way back home
70. Paper clip fight!!! Just throw them at each other
71. Hide them around the house on a rainy day and have the family try to
find them (like Easter Eggs)
72. Hide them around the house and make up a map and/or give clues of
where they are – like a treasure hunt
73. Make a chain, hang it on a wall and use it to creatively display your
child’s art
74. Unclog a can of spray paint
75. Unclog the pump of the bathroom soap dispenser (you know – when the
soap dries in there and nothing will come out)
76. Use to secure the knot of a ribbon when you don’t have some one to
‘put their finger on it’ so you can make the bow tight
77. Use to secure party decorations on the wall (for example, clip a
streamer to the pull of the blinds)
78. As a joke – give someone a box (or a handful) of paperclips, tell them
you found the perfect gift to explain to them what they mean to you. Watch in amusement as they try to figure it out.
79. Use as an exercise in some kind of self-reflection class – list the
ways you are like a paperclip (I LOVE this one, Cherrylynn!:))
80. Use as inspiration to write a poem
81. Keep your hat on in windy weather
82. Use as inspiration to paint/draw a picture
83. Unclog the little holes in a salt shaker/other seasoning jar
84. Use to hold together fabric when designing clothes
85. Use them to hold the hem of my pants up when I’ve ripped
out the seam

86. Use to hang a framed picture on the wall

87. Use them as inspiration to complete an extra credit assignment in your educational psych class J

88. Nose ring

89. String them together and sort out buttons or beads on them

90, String them together and sort out safety pins on them

91. Cover with clay to reinforce the neck of clay sculptures

92. Necklace closure/extender

93. Hold charms on a bracelet or a necklace

94. Use as an extender on your pants button to give some more room after Thanksgiving dinner

95. Bracelet closure/extender

96. Twisty tie to close trash bags

97. Twisty tie plants to a stake to help them grow straight

98. Poke through holes punched in paper and then twist it to hold the sheets of paper together

99. Use as a weapon, combined with a rubber band for more effect

100. Use them to play “Tiddly Winks” (Does anyone else remember that game?)

101. String them on your glasses to not lose them

102. Stick them in a clay base to hold pictures

103. Stick them in a clay base to hold recipes instead of getting them all smudged while you cook

104. Bend them to make dollhouse furniture

105. Use to balance a nail in place (instead of your finger) when you are going to hammer it into the wall

numbers 46-50 by smiling_spunk

numbers 51-57 by sonnetjoy

numbers 58-60 by Tom@revelife

numbers 61-87 by my amazing cousin, Cherrylynn

number 88-105 by my lovely mum

*my teacher loved it. and..i was the only one in the class who actually did it. “100 or nuttin!”

100 things to do with a paper clip. besides clip paper:

1. Hold your pants up

2. Use it in the place of a button

3. Back scratcher

4. Magnetize it and use for a magnet

5. Connect them and make a necklace

6. Connect them and make a bracelet

7. Earrings

8. Hold pantyhose up

9. Pick a lock

10. Make a rubbing

11. Key chain holder

12. Clip them to your fingernails and tap the counter with them

13. Clip them to your teeth for fangs

14. Toothpick

15. Connect them for a chain

16. Play limbo with the chain

17. Use the chain for Christmas tree decorations

18. Use to hang ornaments on the tree

19. Use the chain for a measuring guide

20. Use for pins in “Pin the Tail on the Donkey”

21. Self-defence weapon–poke out an attacker’s eye

22. Clean your nails

23, Clean the cracks between the tile

24. Soap carving

25. Etching your name into the gross bathroom wall

26. Bookmark

27. Balloon popper

28. Reshape into an art sculpture

29. Straighten and play “Pick up Sticks”

30. Straighten and use as mini-drum sticks to beat to the music

31. Shape into a heart and give it to your valentine

32. Reshape into a napkin ring

33. Make it into a ring

34. Reshape into stick people and make a village

35. Reshape into stick people and make an army. stage a battle with the village.

36. Use as pins for sewing

37. Use as pins to stick into voodoo dolls

38. Stick into marshmallows and make 3D sculptures

39. Stop clothes from sliding off hangers

40. Make a chain and use as a jumprope

41. Make a chain and use as a clothes line

42. Straighten out and use for shish-ka-bob sticks

43. Reshape and then stick one in in an eraser for a pencil topper

44. Marshmallow roasting stick (for over a very little fire or candle)

45. Stick it into a cake to see if it is fully cooked

*i need 100. by Tuesday. for class. extra credit. anyone want to add 55 more???

How to ruin your life:

do nothing

do it later

settle for second best

don’t write it down

don’t say i love you

give into your fears

don’t challenge your fears

be predictable

watch a movie instead of talking about it

always wear headphones when you go walking/jogging

work too much

sleep too much

sleep too little

skip out on education

Don’t do it because you just don’t feel like it

eat fast food/junk food

smoke

don’t exercise/take care of yourself

run away from problems

ignore problems

give the “silent treatment”

trust everyone

trust no one

Don’t put God first

be a Sunday Christian

pray only when you have a problem

love only those who love you

don’t study

don’t give it away

complain

stay in your own city all your life

How to fall OUT of love:

1. Stay away from them. be too busy.

2. Location. be far away. inaccessable.

3. Remember and review all the things that bother you about them. over and over. and tell them. often.

4. Be disinterested or disgusted at what they love.

5. Take them for granted.

6. Admire something or someone else MORE than them.

7. Never do anything out of the ordinary with them. don’t do anything ordinary with them either.

8. Criticize them.

9. Ignore them. turn off your phone.

10. Fight with their family. or try to. or just say mean things about them.

11. Never call them, never show up where they are.

12. Don’t ask about their day. Don’t listen. and forget really fast.

13. Overhear them criticizing you.

14. Nag.

15. Complain about their friends. Never hang out with their friends.

16. Be possessive and needy in a group.

17. Be jealous. and call into question their motives. on everything.

18. Lie to them.

19. Hold back your true emotions or feelings about things.

20. Always take the opposing side against them.

21. Complain about them to others. who will then *maybe* go tell them.

22. Keep secrets.

23. Get rid of everything they gave you or that reminds you of them.

24. Don’t ask mutual friends “how they are doing,” or check up on them.

25. Stop thinking about them all together. or think of something else if you do.

26. Fill up your life with someone or something else.

27. Don’t work on making the relationship work.

28. Don’t talk about problems. or your feelings. or anything for that matter.

29. Make big decisions without their impute or advice.

30. Don’t be close. physically. emotionally. anything.

*darn it…i have more ways of falling out of love than in love. that is depressing.

How to fall in love:

1. Time. be with the person.

2. Location. be easy to meet up, get together. be available.

3. Similar likes/dislikes…and find them out.

4. Love what they love.

5. Admire them–you pursue what you admire.

6. Go over reasons WHY you love them in your head. over and over. and then tell them. often.

7. think, obsess about them.

8. Plan special things to do with them. and then do them. or at least talk about doing them UNTIL you do them.

9. Show up unexpectedly where they are.

10. Complement them. you remind yourself why they are great when you tell them so

11. Impress and be kind to their family. always.

12. Call at random times to just say Hello.

13. Become an expert on this person…ask about everything. and then listen. and remember.

14. Overhear them say nice things about you to others.

15. Be cool with their friends. Don’t be needy when in a group. Don’t be possessive or clingy.

16. Work with them.

17. Play sports with them. if they like sports. other activities if they don’t.

18. Put forth effort to impress them.

19. Be completely honest with them.

20. Talk about the little things that happen. in your life and theirs. Ask questions like “What do you feel about that?”

21. Be best friends.

22. Take their side.

23. Spread good gossip about them.

24. Share secrets.

25. Make them top priority.

26. Help them out. obviously or secretly.

27. Invest in them.  

28. Respect them and what they do/have done. respect what made them who they are

29. Acknowledge/ be aware of their flaws, but choose to accept and overlook them. flaws are what make us unique and beautiful

30. Love their quirks – things that make them different

31. Spend time with them around others – it makes you proud & happy to know them

*and then a customer came and i put the receipts away. any more ideas? not expecting feedback…but if i get it i would be happy:).

**the last couple were added by SPOKENFOR–thank you!:)