Fernando inching by

so we have a family friend attending v.u.'s law skool who is celebrating ramadan this month. ok, cool. ramadan is a month in muslim beliefs of fasting during the day, breaking the fast at sunset by eating some dates, and then eating, partying, smoking bongs, and having sex till sunup. well--not for everyone. but for some of my arab friends, this is how many celebrate ramadan. so many from the west don't understand this muslim tradition and for that, poop on us.

so we took out our friend after sunset tonight to aladdin pita, a restaurant in merrillville. they usually only have the buffet on thursday and saturday nights, i believe, but with all the hungry muslims, this entire month (in the evening) there is a buffet. seeing as how i've been to the middle east--on several occasions--i am a FAN of middle eastern food. didn't used to be that way but throughout life with a boyfriend from my past and his mother holding me down and shoving hummus and pita down my throat, i've grown to love the stuff. but never would i have tasted it cuz it LOOKS LIKE CRAP. but it's quite delicious with the perfect amount of olive oil and garlic. mmmmmmm.

but as i gorged myself (like i need to) on this awesome and quite yummy food, i noticed that the dates my mom had mentioned earlier in the night were not yet to be found--neither on her plate nor on the buffet table. on my way back up to the buffet, i saw some and i grabbed a date out of a container near the appetizers and put it on the corner of my plate for her. the place was crowded and they honestly had a hard time cooking enuf stuff and displaying the stuff in enuf time for people to scoop it all up and munch it down.

well...the date that i had put on my plate for my mom had a guest. a house guest. i noticed him scrunching up, stretching out...scrunching up, stretching out--ON MY PLATE. he had left his home (the date, i'm guessing) and had begun the long trek to familiar lands--ACROSS MY PLATE.

ahem...well, with me HATING bugs and creepy crawlies of any kind and being terrified even of the very smallest ones (but at the same time not wanting to cause a scene), i walked briskly over to where my parents were sitting with Fernando, and told them of my dilemma. i explained to my mom how i had found the replenished date container at the buffet but this little inchworm named Fernando had decided to come out and play. i told her everything. here's what she did: she immediately KILLED FERNANDO and proceeded to gulp down the date. i mean, come ON! Fernando could have been having a party! friends may have been over!

that's gross. moral of the story: if there is a little worm in your fruit, kill him instantly and GET RID OF THAT FRUIT! and don't ever eat that type of fruit again. how incredibly disgusting. my mom was proud of her feat and smiled at me as if to say, "woohoo! more protein!" well no wait...she actually may have said that.

so faretheewell to Fernando and co. hopefully he (and maybe they) will have a happy inchworm afterlife.

ta ta.

anyone else?

anyone else out there tired to death of orenthal james simpson? what a circus. what a nuisance. what a sociopath. good grief. i actually have nothing else to say about that.

but how about them cars in iceland? yeah, that's my native land. i'm excited to read about all their "green" activities and such. and how they're not gonna rely on fossil fuels too much longer. how sweet. i really need to go there.

oh and about the garlic bread episode a few days ago...we tried it again last night and it was delicious. our garlic bread did NOT catch fire and we had an enjoyable meal.

BLACKWATER! LET'S GET OUT NOW! (and a garlic bread mishap)

okay. HELLO! WAKE UP USA! here's our opportunity! if iraq wants blackwater out, and if blackwater is who protects our diplomats and certain other important people, let's go! iraq has every authority to get rid of blackwater. and yes, i believe blackwater answers to no one. i feel that at first, blackwater did a good deed. initially they kept US interests safe in iraq. but now, it's like it's gone to their heads. shooting up random taxis if they get "too close" to a convoy doesn't protect anyone. and killing civilians? what does that accomplish? if you are not judged here on earth, there will be a doozy waiting for you later on. (and even if you are held accountable in this life, you are STILL screwed later.)

let me qualify this, though. yes, i know many civilians are armed. and many taxis DO have car bombs inside their trunks. i know this. but blackwater seems to have turned into a bunch of mercenaries, and whether or not they are justified in what they're doing, this is our time to bow out. let's get out of iraq! we've screwed up their country enough. maybe we should even pay reparations. BUT LET'S GET OUT!

once again the arrogance of the west (for anyone who is confused, that's us, my american friends) has continued to turn others away from us and make yet more enemies. iraq's people (and people groups) have been around for thousands of years. who are we to try to throw a quick fix in to "help" out this country? good grief.

but on a lighter note, last night we had lasagna for dinner (parent's house) and as we waited for the garlic bread to get done, we forgot about the garlic bread. and then we had garlic bread en FLAMBE. yeah, i finally got to use the fire extinguisher that had been sitting in the hall closet for years. and we MOURNED our black garlic bread. and our smoke filled kitchen. and our smelly upstairs. (but mostly we mourned our lack of tasty garlic bread.) but as a consolation prize, my dad took us out for ice cream at oberweis. that was good.

i am so freaking tired of the whole iraq thing

okay. i maybe like the new little slogan..."general petraeus or general 'betray us.'"

i guess this depends on whether or not he is HONEST or instead is another one of our dear little president's puppets--who will say whatever bush tells him to. but first of all, has he even had enuf time to take things in? does he know enuf about the war to give such recommendations?

i just wonder (once again, SIGH) how we could be so dumb. i mean, come ON. we just had the whole balkan conflict in the early-mid-late 1990's. why can we not learn from the past? before we go to war, unsmart presidents should have to take a few high school classes on history, foreign policy, europe, and specifically, european history. for example: yugoslavia has always had three people-groups residing within its borders. muslim, croat (catholic), and serb orthodox. okay. so why do we thing throwing a democracy together will be so easy? it doesn't work for everyone! they had a tri-presidency for the longest time and who really knows how their government is working now. nevermind the mafia and all the corrupt officials who took/are taking the donations made by so many countries and individuals.

if we had done any research into the country of iraq, we would KNOW there are also three people groups. yeah, maybe all MUSLIM, but still so very different. there are the shiites, sunnis, and the kurds. how can we expect one president to unite what was only united before in a dictatorship? that's the only way it COULD operate as one country before! and saddam obviously sucked as a leader, to put it nicely. you can't just go and kill off major people groups. that's ethnic cleansing. bad choice.

does anyone see a similarity? we are STILL occupying bosnia--even if only in tuzla today--but still, AMERICANS ARE THERE. nato is to some degree still there. the EUFOR is THERE. there are "occupiers" in that country. maybe not as visible, but still existing. i believe we went into iraq with the intention of being known as the "LIBERATORS." woohoo! liberators! people that give freedom! yessssssss! but we were never seen as liberators and never will be. we have made too many mistakes. we are definitely "OCCUPIERS." and there are no good connotations with such a title.

i firmly believe if anyone had a brain, they would have advised our non-smart president to not rush into such a war and to take a few high school classes and get a bit of a background knowledge first. not try to finish what daddy-dearest couldn't do in an earlier presidency. there are high schools not far away from the d.c. schools if bush really wanted to get a high school education out of the inner-city. may i recommend, falls church, virginia? i have friends from college who went to those schools growing up and were able to get a great education.

maybe it would be silly to send an "educated" president to high school, but i'm afraid there are high schoolers in our country who could do a better job than our current and unfortunate president. at least they could make more informed decisions.

but don't get me wrong, i do pray for bush as the Lord brings him to mind. i always roll my eyes first and tell God i still don't understand how this could have been allowed to happen, but i do pray that he would make good decisions as often as possible and would LISTEN TO WELL-INFORMED ADVISORS. that's all that can be done at this point. i'm just really not a fan of having a lame duck lead our country. a canadian goose may be a better choice. but God allows things to happen for a reason. and again, i'll just have to trust Him on this one. and i pray that His will is done.

i went AWOL for labor day weekend...

but i'm back now! where i went there was no easy access to the internet. but i took a bunch of pics. here are a few now. for labor day weekend i went to canada, hung out in the U.P. of michigan at cedar campus, and went to mackinac island for a day. it was good. parts of it were sad but i am super-very-entirely glad i went. it will make what is bad not so bad later. i can get used to the idea, maybe.

but in the meantime, i'm writing a huge letter of disappointment and regret to madison--intervarsity christian fellowship's mothership. i'm incredibly surprised at IV's poor decision-making skills. one person in particular. they're (she's) gonna tear the camp apart. and in the meantime...who is gonna take care of the place? good grief. if cedar can take this blow and still be in existence 3 or 4 years from now, great. but i'll be surprised. but i'm also afraid for the staff that remain. they work so hard as it is. are they gonna be able to pick up the slack for the at least FOUR staff who are now gone? stupid stupid stupid. i am no longer a fan of IVCF. not at all. and about donations? FORGET IT. if i am able to donate, it'll be directly to my friends who remain up there. I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH INTERVARSITY CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP. their fellowSHIP is sinking.