Shout Out

So, apparently Katie Holmes, as goes the Scientology practice, is going to have to remain silent during the birth of her and Cruise's child. WHAT???? I repeat, WHAT????

"The couple — following the Scientology tradition of a silent birth — had the posters delivered to their Beverly Hills mansion. The 6ft placards will be placed so Katie can see them in labour. One reads: “Be silent and make all physical movements slow and understandable.‚” Story Here

From what little I can understand, this may have something to do with the idea of "impressions" scientologists believe we have on us. I guess they don't think it is such the good thing for a mom to be screamin' like a banshee when her baby boy/girl comes into the world.

All I can think to say now is, Absolutely Amazing.

Little Girls, Dreaming

Sneaking peeks at Christmas presents. Watching Shirley Temple movies with my dad. Watching my mom apply her makeup before work. Writing made-up newspaper stories and poems. The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. Sneaking outside to feel the grass beneath my feet. Asking Santa to tell Jesus happy birthday on his fly-by. Shoes that tap and skirts that twirl.

For the ladies, Faith Hill's "Fireflies".

Before you met me I was a fairy princess
I caught frogs and called them prince
And made myself a queen
And before you knew me I'd traveled 'round the world
And I slept in castles
And fell in love
Because I was taught to dream

I found mayonnaise bottles and poked holes on top
To capture Tinker Bell
And they were just fireflies to the untrained eye
But I could always tell

Cause I believe in fairy tales
And dreamer's dreams
Like bedsheet sails
And I believe in Peter Pan
And miracles, anything I can to get by
And fireflies

Now before I grew up I saw you on a cloud
And I could bless myself in your name
And pat you on your wings
And before I grew up I heard you whisper so loud
Well life is hard and so is love
Child, believe in all these things

Double Take

All I have to say is, "Ummmmmmm...."



Thanks to the Pink Kitty Blog for the funny photo. Or as they called it, a "hat tip". Ha!

Hoping for Failure

Anyone else hoping Walmart's newest store will fail?

I know exactly where this store is...and I say, Come on Dallas, Richardson, and Plano! Leave the expensive stuff to Saks, Bestbuy, Brooks Brothers, Baby Gap, etc!

I'm just so sick of Walmart. Ugh. (And in case you are wondering, no, I do not shop there any longer).

Error Issues

If anyone actually reaches this blog over the next few days, here is the reason why it has been down.

Thoughts on Blogging

The New York Daily News published an article on potential employers and the growing prevalence of Google as an interview tool. Likewise, blogs are coming up. As would be expect, what people thought may be private or only read by their friends is, of course, available to anyone to read...including those potential employers.

Well...I'm not really sure what to say. As a non-anonymous blogger myself, I'm sure it wouldn't be very difficult for a law office I was applying at to see my blog. Would I be judged based on what I've written here? Would it be favorable or not?

For fear that I would not be judged on my merits (I'm in the top of my class and a VERY hard worker), I'm actually thinking of taking my profile down to make this a bit more anonymous. If anyone who comes by here has any thoughts, please let me know via e-mail or comments.

Getting Serious about Getting Married

I was going to write a review about Debbie Maken's Getting Serious about Getting Married, but a very good one has already been written - A Wistful Maiden's Ponderings: "Getting Serious about Getting Married" - book review

And here

Disagreeing with Maken (and see my comment): here

Am I ever delighted that this topic is hitting the blogosphere so quickly! Let's get the conversation started!

A Whole New World

I will attempt to keep this post from turning into a tirade against the fashion world.

Anyone who knows me is aware that I rarely follow entertainment or fashion news. Quite frankly, I find I have better things to do than read gossip about people I don't know and worry about whether the color of my t-shirt or my pants length is "in". I was completely and blissfully unaware that shoes have a season. I really had no clue!

To my chagrine, entering the professional world means paying some attention to the fashion world. My goal will of course be to get classic pieces. Why do I want something sitting in my closet that I am not "allowed" to wear? This "what not to wear" idea goes to the large social schematic of our society. Raised on consumerism, we focus on false and empty materialistic ideas. Nonetheless, I will have to play the game to some extent; I can no longer be the fashion bench warmer I naturally am. However, I will maintain some integrity. I will not buy the latest trend just because. If it is classic enough to last and comfortable, then I will purchase it.

A note on judgment: you know, a person's worth is certainly not determined by the clothes they wear. I've found many people judge others depending on whether those people are fashion conscious. If we form any opinion of a person, let it be based on their spirit...their spirit for giving, their capacity for loyalty, their strong faith. My handbag doesn't tell you a darn thing about who I am...only that I needed a purse that was big enough for all my stuff, black to match everything, and priced so that I could afford it, while it would last.

Disclaimer

The funny thing about blogs is this: people read them! Some 1L here at Tech posted a comment about clothing at Board of Barrister competitions. (For the uninitiated, Board of Barristers is a competition for the highly motivated...which I am not!). Well, keeping in line with what I'll call "1L madness" (referring to the fact that 1Ls keep mass emailing all the other students), some other 1L thought he should forward a link to all the other students.

Somewhat of a Disclaimer: While I take full responsibility for all posts I make, if anyone gets the bright idea to forward a link to the entire law school from my blog, please do me a favor...correct any typos you find! I really cannot spell to save my life.

Somewhat of another Disclaimer: If I ever offend anyone, please know it is completely unintentional. I use this small spot of e-space only in the hopes that my random thoughts may someday coalesce into something more worthwhile when taken as a whole.

Waiting On God

"I don't mean just thinking. I mean thinking with a difference — trusting God to make things clear in His own time, thinking in a spirit of adoration, of dependency, of trust. That includes trust that He is, in fact, changing your mind."

"In Romans 12:2, Paul writes 'Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove' — that means 'discern' — 'that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.' Do you see what he's saying? He seems to think that the key to 'proving' or discerning the will of God isn't getting a certain kind of experience in the mind, but getting a certain kind of mind. Paul wants our minds to be 'renewed' through surrender to His will."

Not "God, my mind is all ready, so drop some thoughts into it..." "He made your mind to think, so don't let your mind just lie there — think. But think in His presence."


---From "The Lord Told Me (Part 1 of 2)", by J. Budziszewski, Boundless.org.

Tell it like it is...

"The [Massachusetts] state pharmacy board ordered Wal-Mart on Tuesday to stock emergency contraception pills at its stores in Massachusetts.

"Massachusetts becomes second state to require the world's largest retailer to carry the morning-after pill.

A Wal-Mart spokesman said... "Clearly women's health is a high priority for Wal-Mart," spokesman Dan Fogleman said. "We are actively thinking through the issue."

My Personal Thoughts: Since when has the morning after pill or any of its successors had much to do with women's health? A woman is not diseased if she is pregnant, though many feminists seem to think so. I understand, though I do not agree with, the argument about abortions for women who are raped or who might die during the birth process. However, if a woman has been raped or is facing pregnancy complications, she should be in a hospital getting proper medical attention, not in Wal-Mart buying drugs. Therefore, the only woman likely, I would think, to be the intended consumer of such a product would be the woman who thinks she might have messed up with her birth control and just wants to make sure...

But then again, maybe this is a health issue...a mental health issue. Women need to stop seeing their bodies as objects to use for their own satisfaction. Women who feel entitled to have sex out of wedlock and who feel justified in using various contraception methods and abortion if necessary to maintain some plastic notion of freedom...these women are simply insane.

Set aside the notion that there is some form of freedom in wordly views. Women are not free when they can kill their babies and have sex with men who are neither in love with nor committed to them. Freedom can only be found when you stop following the dictates of a blind society and start following the truth that is written in your heart.

V-day Philosophy

...speak of one who loved not wisely, but too well.

- Othello.

Lesson of The Day

It is better to be a seal than a penguin.

Facing Ghosts: more on courtship

The pain of heartbreak for me has been linear in nature: the more trust involved, the more pain felt. I think it is quite possible to trust someone more than you love them. The worst kind of heartbreak is the kind where love and trust are equal, and in great amounts...that pain can be almost unbearable.

I've been broken up with before...I've also been the one to do the breaking. It sucks, either way. The term "breaking up" is very apt. Whether or not you are physically involved, there is always an emotional "oneness" that is created during the dating process. Knowing what it means to give yourself to a person takes a lot of heart. In her article, "Why Breaking Up is Hard To Do", Sara Hinlicky wrote about a guy named James who was dumped by a girl named Cindy.

He is the one who really understood what was at stake in their romance. It wasn'’t an arrangement designed to be temporary or merely preparatory for something else. He saw, and felt in his heart of hearts, the profound spiritual implications of his intimacy with Cindy. It was a sacrifice of himself to her that required incredible trust. He willingly blended his identity with hers;

James was heartbroken when Cindy broke-up with him. She wasn't. She moved on. He struggled. I can't say how long any one person struggles or not with such a problem, but it is a tough road for the person who really knows what dating and courtship and emotional intimacy bring.

For the givers out there who give their hearts freely, with complete trust...be more discerning. I speak with experience over many years. I've had to face those ghosts too...the questions with no answers. "Why me? What is wrong with me? Why aren't I good enough? How do I lack...how can I fix it? Don't I have value?" The ghosts of the "exs". The ghosts of regret.

Toward the end of her article, Hinlicky says that perhaps we really aren't one until we are married to that person God has intended for us. Maybe she is right, I certainly do not profess any aptitude for maritial theology. What I do know is this: in marriage, we are one before God; as a married couple, we should build each other up, not tear each other down; my husband should complete me in ways that I am incapable of filling, and I should complete him in the say way.

Reason from Above

"Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord" Isaiah 1:18.

Many times, I've been chastised in my life for my faith, that faith is without reason. I quite disagree. Faith is the highest form of reason...requiring the utmost in mental commitment from the person in which it abides. And since our relationship with God is based on faith...in Christ..."[i]t is important to realize, [when talking with God], that one is having a discussion. Religious thought is not an abdication of reason or discussion; it is simply reasoning and discussion by other means." (Nate Olman on God and taxes).

It is a plain man indeed that finds solace in mere logic and philosophy.

In Memory

In memory of my Aunt Prissy, who passed away yesterday of cancer at 49 years old.

More on tax treaties

In this post on the Tax Prof blog, the issue of tax treaties comes up again. (See this previous post).

As a general note, I think I find the U.S. entering into treaties that submit the people of this nation to foreign power a bit unconstitutional. (Please add a note of sarcasm to the word "bit").

And you think taxes are bad now...

Can you imagine having taxes on global e-commerce? Ack! Tax Prof blog has a post here, and I have copied the abstract below, regard global taxation.

This paper assesses national and international responses to tax challenges presented by cross-border electronic commerce. Almost ten years after these challenges were first identified, a survey of national government reactions shows that many countries have not passed any significant tax legislation or administrative guidance with respect to the taxation of global e-commerce. This lack of action at the national level can be explained in large part by the leadership role taken by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in developing the guiding principles and, subsequently, the tax rules to confront the e-commerce tax challenges. The OECD’s general success with e-commerce tax reform demonstrates the potential of the OECD to act as a kind of informal (lower case) world tax organization, which emphasizes deliberation, consensus-building and the use of non-binding mechanisms such as the OECD model tax treaty. Moreover, the OECD’s success suggests that calls for a more formal (upper-case) World Tax Organization, which could impose binding tax rules on participating nations, may be misplaced.

The Coolness of Tax

The government will always get its own...

Take for instance this article on the Tax Prof blog.

"Having someone else pay your taxes can get tricky, since the government counts the amount that person pays as taxable income. "

Gary Allan - The One

No rush though I need your touch
I won't rush your heart
Until you feel on solid ground
Until your strength is found, girl

I'll fill those canyons in your soul
Like a river lead you home
And I'll walk a step behind
In the shadows so you shine
Just ask it will be done
And I will prove my love
Until you're sure that I'm "the one"

Somebody else was here before
He treated you unkind
And broken wings need time to heal
Before a heart can fly, girl

I'll fill those canyons in your soul
Like a river lead you home
And I'll walk a step behind
In the shadows so you shine
Just ask it will be done
And I will prove my love
Until you're sure that I'm "the one"

Trust in me and you'll find a heart so true
All I want to do is give the best of me to you
And stand beside you

Just ask it will be done
And I will prove my love
Until you're sure that I'm "the one"