Merry Christmas-The American Inquisition

Happy Holidays. Merry Christmas. Glad Noel. Happy Hannukah. Blessed Be. Happy Kwanzaa.

I keep getting these 'Keep Christ in Christmas' and 'Don't Be Ashamed of Merry Christmas' emails. It reminds me of the following quote:"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." Mahatma Gandhi

It's funny-my Jewish friends and family do not feel the need to force Chanukah blessings on me.
My pagan/wiccan friends do not shower me with Merry Meet or Blessed Be anytime of the year.
My buddhist friends continually wish me happiness and enlightenment, but not on any particular season.
My atheist and agnostic friends do not bombard me with questions or accusations.
Some how, we all acknowledge each other, no matter what time of year, with open arms.

So why the American Inquisition? The message I'm getting is "You go into those department stores and wish them a Merry Christmas!! Let them know you are a Christian, by God!! Do you want Jesus to think that you are ashamed of Him?"

I don't think of it as political correctness, although I don't think that's a bad thing. But wouldn't you rather someone think of you as a follower of Christ because of how you show kindness and understanding rather than your loud shouts of 'Merry Christmas' or your manger pin on your sweater or your fish family on your car bumper? We are supposed to be a land of religious freedom. Not whoever got here first gets to dominate. Sort of defeats the reason many of our ancestors came here, doesn't it?

I want to live so that people come to me quietly and say, "Hey, what is it in you....." And I can say, "Well, there's this amazing guy...*blushes*...that I am crazy in love with...let me tell you about him. Let me tell you how much he loves me and loves you, too. Let me tell you about how not only he can heal you and all your broken pieces, but wants to use you and your broken pieces to show others how he loves them." And if people are not asking me about about Christ, then I'm not doing it right.
I know that I struggle with my faith daily. I struggle with the religion I practice. But one thing I do not struggle with is my love for Christ. I am a full-out Jesus junkie. I wanna be like Mary and just sit at his feet listening to every word he says. And, I want to tell everyone I meet this holiday season, "Peace be with you." And they will know who I am because of what's in my heart, not what comes from my mouth.

The Dating Game

Dating. It's really a game for the most part isn't it? It's like trying on clothes to see what fits. Or choosing the right plants for your home. I look horrible in skinny jeans, but pretty good in a comfortable pair of painter's pants. I'm an orchid as far as plants go. Overly sensitive, easily gets my feelings hurt. I wish I were more like a cactus. But, all in all, I can't help but think that there are some rules that should be universal. Think of this as a bucket list of dating. We always think, "Hey, if there were just a manual about guys/girls. Life would be simpler." This isn't my complete manual, but it's a good start. I think everyone should put a manual about themselves, or in some cases a warning label, right out there for people. It would make the guessing part of relationships a lot easier.

DO (we'll start with the good stuff):

1. Make me laugh
2. Listen to me
3. Talk to me-really talk to me-about anything
4. Be passionate about something-school, sports, books, music, video games, anything, just give your all to something
5. Be yourself. Completely. You don't have to put on an act with me. Ever.
6. Eat with me
7. Hold my hand
8. Trust me
9. Call, write me a letter or email or something at least more than once a week
10. Be my friend

See how easy that is? Some people require more, but it's basic. Do what you would want them to do. And if you don't want to do the basics, then you probably shouldn't be dating yet.

DON'T (now the not so good stuff, but helpful none the less)

1. Don't have a crush on someone else when we're dating. I don't care who she is.
2. Don't ask other girls for their phone numbers.
3. Don't talk about your exes. Even to say unkind things. That lets me know that one day, you'll do that about me, too.
4. Don't call me once a week and tell me you forgot to call me and that you have to cancel our plans.
5. Don't berate me for political or religious (or lack there of) ideologies. Chances are I think yours are stupid, too, but I wouldn't say that to you.
6. Don't tell me that you don't know why you haven't called, but you've certainly had time to do so.
7. If you hear some gossip about me, ask a friend or something. Ask my parents. Don't ask me. Don't assume it's true and ask me "Why would so-and-so lie?" I don't really know. Maybe they're misinformed or opening their mouths to talk about something when they don't have their facts correct. My question is, "Why would you doubt me?"
8. Don't get mad when I kick your butt at video games. I've been doing this a while and yes, I'm that good.
9. Don't hurt my feelings because you're insecure.
10. In our world "Not calling = Not caring". I know that some girls call guys and it's acceptable nowadays. Not this girl. I was raised that calling boys is trashy. There are exceptions. A few.

See, that's easy, too! It's a general list, but I think a decent, handy one.

For me, there are extras: take me to a museum; tell me about bands you like-I love music of most any kind; read to me or talk about books with me; be a gentleman-I don't think that opening doors and pulling out chairs is antiquated or chauvinistic; tell me I smell nice. Failure to do these things will result in the 'reset' button being pushed and game will be over.

Abbie Lyon's Bucket List

• Be really passionate about a cause and do something instead of thinking about it.
• Make out my will and keep it updated.
• Drive on the Autobahn.
• SCUBA dive in the Great Barrier Reef.
• Kiss the Blarney Stone
• Kiss someone on the Eiffel Tower
• Tour Italy from top to bottom
• Float in the Dead Sea
• Take a boat on the Nile
• Leave a Prayer on the Western Wall
• Step foot on every continent
• Spend a year in Japan
• Party in Rio during Carnival
• Visit the Blue Grotto
• Backpack across Europe
• Visit Loch Ness
• Attend a concert in Vienna
• Visit the Great Wall of China
• Spend three months in a Buddhist Prayer center
• Ride the Orient Express
• Hear an opera at La Scala (maybe next summer in Europe?)
• Sing for the NY Metropolitan Opera
• Teach someone illiterate to read
• Shower in a waterfall
• Hanglide
• Learn to throw a pot
• Write and Illustrate a children's book
• Learn to Ballroom dance
• Live in a commune for atleast a year or start my own
• Ride a camel
• Go on an investigation with TAPS
• Work with Adam and Jamie on Mythbusters
• Spend the night someplace haunted
• Learn to use chopsticks with my hands and feet
• Visit Transylvania
• Build a house with Habitat for Humanity
• Stand among the Redwoods
• Turtle Rescue
• Enjoy kissing
• Blindly point to a destination on a map and hop on a plane
• Learn Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Italian, French and Navajo
• Find my faith
• Meet the Dalai Lama
• Write a novel with a friend
  
• Write a song: words and music
• Smell a kangaroo
• Learn to rollerskate
• Watch a shuttle/rocket launch
• Have my name on the list for the first tourist launch to the moon
• Brew my own beer or wine
• Spend half a day at a concentration camp and swear never to forget
• See AFI's top 100 movies
• Read at least 100 banned books
• Visit Stonehenge
• Visit Machu Pichu or the nazca lines
• Ride a ripline in the Rainforest
• Ride in a hot air balloon
• Learn to play the drums well
• Give birth (It'll be a while)
• Hike the Appalachian Trail
• Spend a fall biking through New England
• Learn to pick locks
• Learn to hotwire a car
• Wait

Please offer suggestions. I welcome any new adventures. I might be terrified of it, but I'll try most anything. Anything highlighted in Blue, I've managed since I started the list.
AML

My Geek Creds

I have been invited to join The Labrynth nee' Geek Freaks. Geek creds are requested and mine are below:
Abbie's Geek Cred (at first I thought it said creed and actually worked on one)

RPG's-my dad is currently teaching me D&D. I had the Monsters Manual memorized by five. It was bedtime reading for me, which might explain a lot. I also enjoy LARP's.

Video and Computer Games-I got hooked on Diablo by seven. I love it! I do the usual online Runescape, Gaia, anything with a quest really. I use Age of Empires with my homeschooling. I remember being the only third grader in Mrs. Ortwein's that wanted a bardiche for Christmas. I really like weapons.

Comic Books-I really do not have very many. My allowance waster is Manga. I have a huge collection of different series. I know most of them by heart. I used Prince of Tennis to learn percentages.

Music-Cannot live without it. My iPod ranges from the 1920's to current plus classical music.
I especially love 70's rock, 80's college bands and anything quirky. I like early rap, but not what is out there now. In my opinion, it's trash and is degrading to women. When I have reached a point of brokeness that surpasses everything, music can keep me sane and alive.
Movies-British humor is a favorite, though I like mindless humor as well. I love musicals, Shakespeare, 80's horror flicks, Hitchcock, Disney, Action/Adventure, comedy, indy flicks with subtitles. I love Monty Python, LOTR, Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Mummy, The Godfather
Critters-I have one Sheltie and 5 cats. We have had as many as 20 cats. We used to be a drop off house for strays and unwanteds. That has come to include people as well, but that's another topic. We take in EVERYTHING. We've had a frog, several fish, a hamster. In our yard, there are squirrels, chipmunks, 2 raccoons, 1 large snapping turtle, three hummingbirds and other assorted creatures. We feed them all.
Philosophy-I think WAY too much. It comes from being an insomniac. I'm Catholic, though there are several things about the church with which I disagree. I'm rather pagan/native american in that I do celebrate and revere the earth and I think there is life/spirit all around us. I have Buddhist leanings as well. My over all phisophy is this: I like to spend half my time minding my own business and the other half leaving other people alone. I try very hard not to judge, because I don't want to be judged.

Television-Anime, Saturday night Britcoms-esp. Red Dwarf, The Vicar of Dibley or My Hero; Big Bang Theory; Ace of Cakes (I love to bake); Doctor Who and Torchwood; anything on PBS, The Discovery Channel, NASA, SYFY or National Geographic or BBC America. The only reality show that I watch is Family Jewels with Gene Simmons.

I don't spell very well, so I use spell check religiously, because misspelling drives me insane. I can't write it, but I know it when I see it.
I love books. I like fiction and non-fiction. Somedays it's manga. Somedays is Jane Austen or other historical fiction. Somedays, it mysteries. You never know. Top favs: Inkheart series, Illusions: The Adventures of a Relectant Messiah, anything by Anne George, Laurie King or Diana Gabaldon.

• I am currently an honorary member of BCAR-Berry College Alternate Realities. It is a group with a vast appreciation of Science Fiction, role playing, fantasy, anime/manga. Basically, it's Berry's geek club. Some of the best people on earth. They hold a Con every other year. I have been to three Anime Cons in the past year. I like making my own costumes.
• All of my passwords are anime related and extremely obscure.
• I know all the words to every song from Rocky Horror and have since I was 7. You won't have to PG-14 me too much.
• I quote a lot.
• I can memorize most anything from lyrics to plays to sheet music very quickly. I do play the piano, guitar and the harmonica.
• I love to give and receive unusual gifts. One of my favorites to date is a mummification kit with canopic jars that my mom found at the High Museum for my 7th birthday.

I think that pretty much covers it. Just ask if you need more. I think for 14, I am already hopelessly and happily geeky. I'm 1000+ year old soul currently inhabiting a 14 year old body.

Oh....my creed: I promise to remain open-minded and open-hearted for we must accept and embrace not only our own geekiness, but others as well. I promise to never sleep more than 4 hours at a time. I promise to continue dressing in my own unique, thrift-store way. I promise to strive toward better worlds always. AML

Tough Decisions

I, for the most part, am a peaceful person. I'm a huge advocate of peace, kindness, acceptance...blah, blah, blah..... I do believe for fighting for what I believe in and for underdogs, but still, I am peaceful in nature. Or atleast I thought I was. God has been telling me otherwise. You know how he just sort of sneaks messages to you. Usually through other people. He has all sorts of creative ways of really getting to you. His message to me for the past couple of weeks has been forgivness.
I turn on the radio and it's the Ramones telling me to "Swallow My Pride" or Simon & Garfunkel singing about "Old Friends". You read a post by a dear friend on Facebook and it's all about letting go of petty arguments. Another person posts that you just have to love people anyway. Regardless of what they have done to you.
OK God!!!! I get it.
Francesco Petrarch said, "Five great enemies to peace inhabit with us: avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride. If those enemies were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.". Forgiveness is about letting go of your anger and sometimes swallowing your pride. It's about loving another human, faults and all.
I'm going rafting tomorrow. I have already started visualizing that every time I put the oar into the water, I'm going to let anger flow from me, through the oar and into the water. My anger will wash downstream where nature can take care of it as nature always can. I'm going to push resentment to the surface where the air can sweep it away. I will cry for things that weren't. For dreams lost and no one will know because my face will be red from the sun and the tears will look like spray from the river. I will finish the run exhausted, exhilerated, but at peace. And at the end, I will wrap myself in the laughter of my friends so that the anger cannot creep back to me. That's my goal. That is how I will get my peace back.
But if all else fails, Oscar Wilde said: "Always forgive your enemies-nothing annoys them so much." Yeah....I can annoy the hell out of people. I'm good at that.
AML

Religion is a Funny Thing to Me

I wanted this to be my first Blog post, unfortunately, I couldn't figure out the blogging in time and also posted it in my "Notes" section of Facebook. Some of you have read it. Don't waste your time reading it again.

Someone asked my mom if it bothered her that I questioned religion, faith, god and pretty much everything else. Did it bother her that I generally dislike Christians (by todays definition and standards)? Was she concerned for my soul? My mom is a story teller, though she'll tell you she's not, and I love when she tells me stories from when I was really young. One of her shorter ones is the one where she tells me that she used to whisper in my ear almost from week 1: "Question Authority." Now, she says she should have been more specific. I drive her nuts questioning HER authority. So, the answer to the questions has to be no. And this is the reasoning.I question everything, but I especially question my faith. I question god, his church, everything. I don't want to be spoon fed my religion. "Here, eat some carrots. They're good for you. Have some spinach. It's good for you. Here's a dose of religion. Take it. It's good for you" Thank you, no. I"m not trying to be a cafeteria christian (shudders at the word). I just want to know why. Is this real? Why do I believe this? The bible talks about putting on the armor of God. Mine is not a hand-me-down armor from my parents. I see it more of an I'm-over-the-forge-going-at-it-hammer-and-tongs with god. I'm almost constantly over the fire. Occasionally, there is the coolness of peace when the water flows over my work, but then it's back to the firing and hammering. But, I think, when I'm done, the armor will be mine. It will fit me perfectly and I will love every shining piece of it. And, yes, I will have done it the hard way as I do all things, but my armor will be strong because I have examined, forged and molded every inch of it. I will be stronger in my convictions because I waged battle with them.
AML