In case you need translation

I will be looking for germs strong enough to kill cancer. I will do this job from 37-100.

I am equally impressed and horrified at the prospects of the life he’s chosen. The student loans alone are enough to make me weep. Also, all the politicking around science? It’s a miracle anyone wants to do research anymore. But this is what we need: kids who don’t know that they can’t suceed on something like curing cancer. It’ll be a fantastic day when there’s a cure, even if my son isn’t the one to find it.

Frank, decisive, assume leadership readily. Quickly see illogical and inefficient procedures and policies, develop and implement comprehensive systems to solve organizational problems. Enjoy long-term planning and goal setting. Usually well informed, well read, enjoy expanding their knowledge and passing it on to others. Forceful in presenting their ideas.

I’m in limbo. Limbo for an ENTJ is hell. I’ve applied to graduate school. Their process is lengthy and thorough; their program is highly competitive. I’m having to reconcile that waiting for what I want (news about graduate school) is worth more than having a plan right now. But a plan makes me feel safe. I know how to execute a plan. I don’t know how to wait.

And yet, I wait.

And the waiting is overwhelming sometimes. And exhausting. And stressful. I have no idea how waiting can be exhausting, but it is. I’m sure this is an awesome life lesson: you can survive without a plan. Fine. I get it. Life continues even if I can’t plan.

It would just go more smoothly if I could plan.

Here’s what I was looking at three years ago.

I just read some republished posts at Pioneer Woman and will attempt better pictures next week with new knowledge in my head!

I need suggestions of books that Elliot might like to read. Together we’ve read James and the Giant Peach (and others of the same ilk), we’ve read Magic Tree House and he can read some on his own, he’s read some Frog and Toad and some Henry and Mudge. What fills the gap between what he’s read and Harry Potter?

I asked the librarian at his school: can you recommend some beginning chapter books that are at Elliot’s level? And I got this response from the district reading specialist (I don’t think it was supposed to be forwarded to me unedited)

I wish parents could forget about the whole idea of a ‘level’ on a book.  Kids should be reading for interest and fun.  Parents could spend time talking about the text with their children.  Enjoying parts of the story that help them understand plot and setting and characters is very important.  Levels are so arbitrary and it’s unfortunate that teachers have to use them.  Thinking with the text is a strong reading strategy that will benefit all readers.  Reading books that have some kind of interest to the reader is more important than whether or not it’s a ‘just right book’  for them.

Right, I wish that too – but WHAT to read? Apparently I should have used the word appropriate, age-appropriate themes and reader-appropriate vocabulary. I asked a similar question at Barnes and Noble and was pointed to a wall of books. Yeah, that’s helpful – clearly they’re not commission based there.

I did attempt to crowdsource this on Facebook and got a few great suggestions that I’ll be checking out. However, Facebook is temporal and a blog is FOREVER! So, I thought I’d readdress the issue.

Maybe you know of a an online resource that acts like Amazon’s recommendation tool … if you like Henry and Mudge you’ll love (and be able to read) …and if there’s no such thing did I just come up with my million dollar idea?

We chose “Two Sides to Every Story” because our original idea was to have a post theme and have our two takes on it. Tammy generated 25 random words for us to use. That proved too hard for the newly initiated photo bloggers, so we’re going with things that are interesting to us in some way. My goal is not to focus on family pictures, you can get enough of that here. I also hope to learn to use my camera better, enough to warrant a new lens in 2010.

Two Sides to Every Story

They ask about life goals – did I have any?

Sure, I am *in* grad school after all. I ask which class they’re polling for.

They deflect.

They ask if I feel like I am able to achieve my goals.

Sure, I keep coming back. I ask which class they’re polling for.

They answer: not a class.

They ask another question.

I ask what they’re doing.

They were recruiting for a Christian organization on campus. Okay. I wish they had been upfront about that to begin with – would have made the conversation more fun from the start. Once we were all aware of everyone’s agenda things got interesting.

Them: how can you achieve your life’s goals without Jesus in your life?

Me: Why do I need Jesus? I can have faith and religion without Jesus.

Them: Huh?

Me: Not everyone needs to go through Jesus to get to God.

Them: Yes you do, if you do not accept Jesus … you go to hell.

Me: Really? All the God fearing Jews that died during the Holocaust went to hell?

Them: No. They accepted Jesus.

Me: Huh?

Me: Uhm.

Me: What?

Then there was a part where I gently explained that not knowing anything about the competition before trying to sell their product was a fail (I was, after all, in business school).

They stood their ground. (Was I now a challenge?)

Me: so, a man who rapes his wife and beats his children can have salvation if, on his death bed, he asks Jesus for forgiveness?

Them: Yes.

Me: And a man that cares for his family and his community and never harms a fly but hasn’t accepted Jesus as his personal savior goes to hell?

Them: Yes.

Me: And you’re okay with that?

The girl cried some more. They slowly walked away. I watched where they went, wanting to see who the would target next. Instead they just left. Maybe they went to the library to read about comparative religion. Heh.

The hypocrisy of main stream religion is baffling to me. I cannot wrap my brain around it. I do not understand how people who claim to be Christians think they have the right to condemn other people. My brain cannot process how Pat Robertson has followers. He says that the Haitians made a pact with the devil. Does he think that because they practice Voodoo? Anything that’s not his brand of Christianity is devil-worship? How do all those people with strong faith, with belief in the golden rule, with a love for their neighbor regardless of their views let this man represent him? Where did all those people wearing the WWJD bracelets go? Do they honestly believe that Jesus would look the other way and let people suffer? If their god is a benevolent one, he would not. And if their god is malicious, how can they have faith in him?