Saturday, November 30, 2013

Top 10 Best OnLine Dating Lines

I recently returned to world of online dating.  And here are some of the more entertaining lines that have popped up in my inbox.

10.  i knew u were an aries the moment i saw your profile picture

9.  Michigan football and In-and-Out Burger?  I am in love already!

8.  Nice longboard.

7.  I'm willing to bet you a donut that you're getting about 500 emails a day from 55 year old married men offering to be your sugar daddy... 

6.  I wish I was older...  (24 year old male from Brooklyn, NY)

5.  You look sooo cool  (37 year old male with a Masters degree)

4.  I've had a crush on you for like 3.5 hours now!

3.  Will you marry me?

2.  We could have beautiful mixed babies together.

1.   Am sorry but your bone structure is just simply amazing to me
 

Monday, November 25, 2013

Longing for HOME

This morning I woke up with my bottom on the ground.

The air mattress I've been sleeping on for the past 3 months gave way last night, and it doesn't appear to be repairable.  "Funny" that someone voted most likely to succeed by her graduating class would find herself at the age of 35 unemployed and sleeping on an air mattress next door to drug dealers.

I intended to buy a for real bed once I found a for real job, but securing employment hasn't happened for me yet, and I'm not sure it is going to happen for me any time soon.

After receiving the news of not getting the job with the prestigious university in my neighborhood, I started to think, maybe my time in New York is done.  Maybe I don't love New York enough to keep fighting to stay here.  Do I really want to work retail or babysit (with my Masters degree) just to be in this city?

It's getting colder, I considered.  I miss Southern California and the warmer temperatures.  And the walking and subway commute from Harlem to the rest of Manhattan is kicking my butt - far more than I thought it would.  At least in California, if I had a less than ideal job, I could still go surfing when I wasn't working.

That Sunday, during church, our pastor asked us to pick a word and to focus on it for a few moments.   My ADD delayed me in participating in the activity, but I eventually settled on the word "home."  Over dinner with a few friends, we discussed the words we had selected.  When it was my turn, I shared some on the word home and my lack of having one for nearly two years.  Then, I finally admitted to myself, and to these friends, I was ready to leave New York.  I didn't wanted to be here anymore and I wanted to go back "home" to Mosaic in LA.

A few hours later, while watching the livestream of Mosaic's Sunday evening service, I learned Mosaic would be starting a new series in a couple of weeks called "Home."

Last night, as I listed to the podcast, Erwin reminded me, ultimately my home is in God - not in a geographic location.  But he did also mention having home in a church family - and that I know I'd have on either coast.

So New York or LA? 

To be continued...

Thank you Jesus, for the good news today, that my unemployment benefits have been extended until the end of December.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Keep Swimming

Sometime in September I had this dream that I'm rather certain was inspired by the Hudson River plane landing of January 2009 and by my German relatives.


US Airways - January 15, 2009

In this dream I was heading out of New York and heading to Europe for an extended stay with my German relatives.  Except, rather than flying across the Atlantic, my plane crashed into the Hudson.  And, unlike the plane that landed on the water a few years ago, the nose of my plane dove into the river, well beneath the surface.

Everything went black.  And the plane started to fill with water.

This is it.  I'm a goner. 
Or am I?  I reconsidered.
Would it be possible to find my way out of the plane? 
I knew I had to at least try.

As I unbuckled my seat belt I considered my laptop under the seat in front of me.  Even if I escaped, there was no way my computer would make it.  "My book!  My book!" I panicked, fearing the lost of all the chapters I had written.  But  then I recalled I had e-mailed my book out to several individuals.  Somehow I was relieved, knowing that even if I didn't survive, my book would.

I found my way to an opened emergency exit.  By then the plane was nearly full of the Hudson.  I took one last gasp of air, and then went under and out the door, determined to fight for the surface.

I didn't I know how deep our plane had plunged, or if I even stood a chance.  But I kept swimming.
I couldn't see a thing.  I could only feel the flailing of my arms.  But I kept swimming.
I sensed I was swimming toward the surfaced, but I didn't know for certain.  But I kept swimming.

Just keep swimming.  I told myself. 
Keep swimming.
Or maybe it was God telling me. 
Keep swimming.
Or maybe it was the spirit of Nemo.
Keep swimming.
I was getting tired - really tired.
Keep swimming.
I need oxygen.
I feared I wouldn't make it.
But then I could see light. 
And I knew I was close.
Keep swimming.
Keep swimming.
Keep swimming.


I pushed through, and arrived at the surface.  Finally, I could breathe once more. 

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Keep Dancing

This evening I posted the following on facebook:

dear life, thanks for the dance floor last night. yet another almost falls by the wayside, but i'll keep dancing through the chaos in FAITH that God will eventually pull me out...

Chaos turns two years old this month.  The gay couple I met while trying to salvage some of my possessions following hurricane Sandy promised me that 2013 would be my year.  While waiting in line to speak with a representative at the storage rental company, we exchanged stories of our losses.  After sharing what we had lost in our submerged storage units, I continued on to share with the men some of the other losses I had incurred that year.

After hearing my woes of my 2012, one of the guys exclaimed, "Wow, you really have had it bad this year.  It has to get better.  2013 is going to be your year.  I just know it.  Bad karma can only last for so long and you seem far too positive of a person for you to not have a turn around."

His partner enthusiastically agreed, "Yeah 2013 will be your year!"  I appreciated the couples' encouragement and belief that the yin and yang of life will even out after the new year. 

To be honest, I was confident the chaos would come to a close by the end of the first quarter of the year.  But I'm now in the final quarter of 2013, and although I have had glimpses of hope along the way - they came in the form of almost possibilities that turned into nothing even though it appeared God was orchestrating.

My heart is tired, and although I'm still hopeful for better days ahead, my question, as posed in the book of Psalms is, "How long God?"  And I only wish I could know how much time passed before God "resurrected"Job's life from the grave.

More on How Long (click on How Long) for those of you who are questioning.  I don't know the author or the website's theological framework, but I stumbled across this piece while writing this post and I thought it was helpful.

To Be Continued... Keep Swimming