I've often wondered if the old saying "opposites attract" was correct when it came to relationships. I'm still not entirely sure! I'm supposing that, like everything, it varies from person to person.

"Opposites" have attracted me in terms of friendship and maybe even a few casual dates, but not when it comes to a serious relationship. People who are completely different from me intrigue me. I want to hang out with them, spend time getting to know about them more and we'll usually end up being great friends. But I haven't been attracted to an "opposite" in romantic terms, really.

To feel attracted to someone, I need to have things in common with them. A lot of things in common. I don't want them to be an exact replica of myself - BORING! - but I do need that connection of knowing that we think on the same page and that we have similar thoughts and ideas and ways of expressing ourselves.

An "opposite" is exciting, unique and definitely fun to be around. But I end up feeling truly at home with someone more like me, someone I can spend the rest of my life with just being ourselves.
 
Some people need that variety in order to keep the fires going, and they thrive on the excitement of their differences. Others prefer the connection of being able to understand their SO very well because they practically share brainwaves. Which one are you?

New theme again, yay! This time it's a photo I took at the Indianapolis Zoo over my birthday weekend. Said birthday weekend was very enjoyable.

Josh took Friday (my actual birthday) off so that we could have a delightful three-day excursion. We left that morning after getting the car's oil changed and headed to the Indy zoo. I haven't been to one since we lived in Germany and I've been wanting to for some time, so that was really fun. We spent the rest of the day driving to Chicago where we had dinner and visited with Josh's mom. Then we got a posh hotel for the night.

On Saturday we bought sushi for breakfast from an awesome Japanese market and then drove to Wisconsin and met up with friends before we all headed out to Summerfest 2009 in Milwaukee. We spent a good ten hours there and had an absolute blast! We discovered a new favorite band - Katzenjammer. Flogging Molly was playing there too, and never in my life have so many people walked into me, stepped on me, JUMPED on me, and been so apologetic just to repeat the offense a mere few seconds later. Sure they were drunk, but c'mon! I got a major sunburn too (my nose just started peeling yesterday ) but it was quite fun!
 
We stayed overnight with our friends and then headed back to Chicago on Sunday where we had lunch with Josh's mom and little brothers before coming back home. Overall, a most excellent birthday!

Usually on my birthdays I try to make a few resolutions. Here are the two I made for this year:

1. Read one book a week. This sounds pretty strenuous even to me, who LOVES reading and used to spend days doing nothing but, however I think it's worth a shot. I'm always wanting to read something or other and I'm always telling myself I don't have time. The other day I realized how ridiculous it was that I never do something I love because I "don't have time". I DO have time, I just need to prioritize things better. So now I will get back to reading! Any recommendations are welcome! I'm up for anything - poetry, random very old books, any of the classics I may have somehow missed in high school , self-help, general nonfiction books about a variety of subjects, biographies, you name it.

2. Take time at least once a week to learn the Irish Gaelic language. This is something else I've wanted to do for a long time. I started a few months ago but then let it slip by the side when other things came along. I want to get back to it and do this thing for real! The language is absolutely beautiful to read and hear and I'm very drawn to it, especially since I have Irish (and Scottish and Welsh) roots.

Here's hoping I can keep this up!

Speaking of keeping up, today I re-discovered the joys of taking care of one's nails. Totally had a mini home-spa thing going on this afternoon. Put on a classical-music-with-nature-sounds CD, lit my Fresh Cut Herbs Yankee candle, soaked my feet in warm water with rose essential oil whilst journaling and sipping a vanilla chai tea, then did my pedicure and did a mini-manicure on my thumb (I did a manicure last night, but couldn't find enough nail polish to get rid of the last traces of it on my thumb, so I left that for today).

Mmmm, most relaxing. I was refreshed and got an extra boost of my usual peaceful, content and happy state of being. While journaling, I also realized again how wonderful Josh is to and for me.

Lately I've been feeling very tired due to physical issues I have, but I know I could have done a little bit more than I have or tried a little harder to get things done around here. Instead, I let my health be a crutch and excused my lack of care for things around here as me just not feeling up to it. I WASN'T feeling up to it, but I could have tried to do it anyway - maybe not ALL of it, but at least made an effort to start something.

And I was remembering how longsuffering Josh was with all of that - a casual reminder here and there to do this or take care of that, but no attitude or frustration. I can only imagine if I was out working all day and he was here not doing much of anything - I would not be taking things as calmly as he was! Sometimes I've wished he was a little less laid back and easygoing but when I really think about it, I wouldn't change him at all. Someone less easygoing would consequently have a lot less patience with me. Besides, his niceness to me during my lapses of laziness and unmotivation just inspire me to do better and be better from now on.

Before leaving, I did manage to clean every single room of the house thoroughly and I've also been making myself keep it up and not let them become so horrible ever again. I really do like cleaning now - it's quite satisfying to have a job well done.

So there you have it. Josh is more or less perfect (mostly more) and I'm obnoxious sometimes but he loves me anyway, so it all works out happily in the end. This is going to be the best year ever!

I've cleaned 3/4 of my apartment so far and made smoked salmon & cream cheese sushi for dinner. Yes, this was a good day.

Some think that the more people they have praying for a situation, the better chance they have of God doing something about it. Do these people think about the ramifications of such a belief? If God's ability/desire to intervene is increased with the number of folks you have praying, would that not be very unfair to the many Christians in other countries who only have a handful, at best, of fellow believers with whom to share their prayer requests with?

Just a thought...

June 24, 2009


Dear Friend of Liberty,

Congress is trying to skyrocket your cost of living while putting another 1 million-plus Americans out of work.  And they want to do it before the week is out.

You see, the “Cap-and-Trade” bill currently in the House is really nothing more than a thinly disguised energy tax that will hit every single American.

And now Nancy Pelosi and Congressional Democrats are pushing this tax hike toward a vote that could come as soon as Friday.

That’s why we need to act now.

I have included the number for the Congressional switchboard, but first I want you to understand the disastrous consequences of this Cap-and-Tax Scheme.

By invasively manipulating an already over-regulated energy industry, this legislation seeks to fix an alleged problem that has recently been discredited by over 31,478 scientists -- including over 3,803 with specific expertise in atmospheric, earth, and environmental sciences.

All 31,478 of these scientists are trained to understand and evaluate the scientific data relevant to the human-caused global warming hypothesis -- and are speaking out against government “remedies.”

With this bill, Congress is once again just doing what it does best -- fleecing taxpayers to further an alarmist agenda.

You see, energy companies just pass the costs of these draconian regulations through to the consumer in the form of huge price increases.

As a result, you will pay higher gas prices, higher electric prices, and higher costs for goods.

Barack Obama has estimated the costs of this legislation to American taxpayers to be over 650 BILLION dollars over the next eight years, and that figure is no doubt just a fraction of the real cost.

But even that modest estimate amounts to hundreds of dollars a year in increased living expenses for every family -- and will more likely cost thousands a year.

And according to the Heritage Foundation, between 1.2 and 2.3 million jobs could be lost over the next ten-years due to the bill’s stifling regulations.

This current economic crisis is no time for Congress to consider both raising prices on hard-working Americans AND costing them jobs.

That’s why we must act now to send a message to Congress to reject this disastrous Cap-and-Tax Scheme.

You can reach the Congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121.  Call and ask for your Representative's office.  Politely but firmly tell their office that you are opposed to this costly government power grab.

Supporters of the legislation are of course trying to downplay the cost of this scheme to the American people.

But if the bill does not directly and massively increase energy costs to consumers, how would it possibly achieve its stated aims?

It is only through these massive cost increases -- mandated and enforced by the federal government -- that the dubious goal of reducing carbon emissions could possibly be reached.  The only alternative to huge energy price increases would be massive, government-ordered power outages, leaving Americans literally in-the-dark like some war-torn Third World Country.

So please call the Congressoinal switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to reach your Representative's office and speak out in opposition to this hidden tax.

You’ve shown what an impact grassroots action can make toward Auditing the Fed.

Let’s unleash that same R3volution in opposition to this Big Government Cap-and-Tax Scheme.

In Liberty,

John Tate
President

P.S. Congress is trying to skyrocket your cost of living with hidden “taxes” from the Cap-and-Trade Bill.  Call the Congressional switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to reach your Representative's office and speak out in opposition of this hidden tax hike and expansion of Big Government.