Spilled Coffee and Awesome Shirts

They say you shouldn't cry over spilled milk, but does the same principle hold true for spilled coffee? I mean, coffee is second only to crude oil as far as trading commodities go, so I should think that if one, in theory, could cry over spilled milk that one would utterly bawl over spilled coffee. In addition, one can drink coffee with milk, but also without it, making milk a mere efficacy that essentially glorifies coffee, not the other way around. Of course, one could make the "vice-versa" argument, but really, who drinks their milk with coffee?? That notion simply shames reason.

Anyway, though I wouldn't normally cry over spilled coffee, today I had experience that showed capabilities to create certain circumstances that could prove to have been unpleasant, though in all likely-hood, not worth tears. Here is what happened:

It was 8:55 of the clock, and I was driving my 2005 Hyundai Tuscon to school. Coffee in one hand, steering wheel in the other, I was happily listening to tobyMac on the radio. Okay, I'll admit, I might've been actively listening to tobyMac, which goes to say I may have been singing along... 

*facepalm* You can see where this is going, right? So of course I would spill coffee all over my pants five minutes before my 9 of the clock history class was to start. 

Peanut Gallery Detour: Of the clock is actually the spelled out contraction of o'clock.  Back in the day, My English teacher would demand that his students spell out all contractions (e.i can't-->cannot, wouldn't-->would not, ext.), save one. He thought it impractical and unnecessary to spell out the contraction "o'clock," and thus premised us to use this contraction. I, however, happen to like spelling out this contraction especially well. So anyway...

Epic humility lesson in the making right? Absolutely shocked as the coffee was hot-leaning-scalding, I took in the developments quite calmly, as I managed to keep the car on the road. Letting out a deep breath, I anxiously looked down at my pants, though I knew what I was to find. Amusingly enough (now), the coffee had spared all but one area. Without going into grave details, it appeared that I had had a rather unfortunate accident; one that was the upshot of coffee consumed, instead of coffee spilled.

In other words, it looked like I had wet myself.

I slumped in my seat, unnerved. Great, I thought, that's all I need. Looking at the clock, I realized that a return to the house was not an option, as it was now 8:56 of the clock. Swallowing my pride as I had no more coffee left swallow, I realized that I had already arrived at the college anyway. I was doomed. Parking my car in a secluded corner, I unloaded and upon standing upright, examined the spot in the more natural light of the sun. Yep, I was doomed. Without a word, I grabbed my book-bag, and attempting to console myself, I repeated in my head, It doesn’t matter, I’m here to learn; just focus on learning AND DON”T MAKE EYE CONTACT!!

I had been fortunate enough to have not met anyone along my journey to my classroom, so upon arriving at the classroom door, I paused and took a deep breath. Looking down once more and wincing because I was doomed,  I walked through the doors. My teacher was just setting herself up to teach when I walked through the doors, allowing me for the collective attention of the classroom. I wore a faked smile, and made my way down to the back row, attempting to look "non-chalant." “Nice shirt,” some guy said as I walked past. Huh? I sat down, and the girl I had chosen to sit next to said warmly, “wow, I love your shirt!” “Thanks!” I said, delightedly stunned. I looked down at my shirt. In all my worrying, I had forgotten that I had worn my favorite “nerd” shirt. Ah, this is looking up, I thought happily. Yes, I had lost some very good coffee along the way but, hey, I was alive, right?

So, of course it only makes sense that after all my worrying about my pants, my shirt would be the thing that received the attention.

Logical Explanation? I have several:

So maybe my shirt was just so awesome that it drew all attention away from my pants by sheer virtue. I mean, it is pretty awesome :D 
Or maybe everyone was just so eager to avert impending awkwardness, they actively complimented my shirt so as to draw attention away from my pants. Mmm, not as flattering, no but yes, that could be it. 
*gasp* Maybe the two complimenters were the only ones out of thirty who were actually paying attention to my shirt. Hhmm, the odds at this point aren't looking that great.

Mmm, or maybe I'm just making a big deal out of this...

Anyway, the moral of this story is that you shouldn’t cry over spilled coffee…

…especially if you’re wearing a totally awesome shirt like me :-)

[Mis]Adventures with My Little Blonde Girl

*sigh* (instant heartmelt)

    So…my little blonde girl. Her name is Abella though everyone just calls her Bella. She has beautiful blonde hair that always seems to 'go rouge' even under the most deterring restraints. She is the cutest chick that I have ever seen….aaaaand she is two-years-old (she's my little sister). Anyway, I will randomly record thoughts and reflections, as well as funny moments inspired by our actual misadventures. Here we go:


This morning, from the general direction of our sporadic dining table, I heard a cry of disturbance. Abandoning my coffee and rushing to the source of the scream, I deduced that it was my little sister Bella, who was pointing distantly at a spot on the floor. Following her laser-accurate-finger, I realized, to my relief, that nothing extremely terrible, certainly, at least, nothing worth the scream, had taken place. Instead, I discovered, after a minute of keen visualizational effort, that there was a small ant underneath the table, lying motionless; apparently dead. Immediately, I was amazed at her keen eyesight as this ant was merely a rather small discoloration in our dark-grouted-tile-floor. In addition, the hapless ant had ventured onto our busy kitchen floor, the result in evidence as it had been skooshed; his well-earned doom.
My little Bella is emotionally intolerant of bugs or any type of creepy crawly being in general; I'm pretty sure Chewbacca would have similar affects on her :P

Peanut Gallery Detour: Emotionally Intolerant is my way of saying scared, or afraid of. When I say, "emotionally intolerant," I am basically using unnecessarily-large words to create a euphemism, which is to say that I am feeling rather special at the moment (my favorite word is 'sesquipedalianistic,' whose dictionary definition is a word containing liberal amounts of syllables, or, aka…a big word).

Putting my previous fears on hold, I began to console my little sister, as she was losing her sanity. "Ah, I see. It's okay darling," I said in my most soothing voice, "its…not a bug."

Yes, I was lying to her, but I realized that my actions over the course of the next five minutes, if chosen strategically, could restore sanity to the kitchen, and thus me. If chosen haphazardly, the situation's dire features would simply amplify, which was a route I wanted to avoid since I was running late. Her facial features instantly morphed into one of indignant disbelief, and she placed her hands on her hips and glared at me. "It's a bug," she retaliated.

*gulp*

She wasn't buying it. Sensing my plan was in danger of epic failure, I cast a pleading look to my other blonde sister (Kate), who had been watching the developments; simply amused. She responded immediately, crouching down underneath the table, as she was soothingly talking to Bella—"it's alright Bell, it's just a—" at this point my sister had prodded the dead ant with her finger and instantly recoiled. "Eeeew, it is a bug" she concluded helpfully. I cast her a dark-glare and found, upon returning my attention to her, that Bella trusted Kate over me. "Now, now Bella," I began, "it may be a bug, but its dead now. It can't hurt you." Having none of it, she insisted, "Take it away outside please."

Her proposal spelled one word for me:

inconvenience. "Dear [Bella], Adam will sweep it up later, okay?" I pleaded.

"No, uh, right now take it outsiiiide," she spelled out with her lips.

*facepalm* "Look Bella," I said attempting to kick it away with my foot, "Sit down and eat your—" She gasped as soon as my foot began scooting it across the floor. Kate, trying to redeem herself, flicked the ant out of the doorway, eliminating our problem…at least for the moment. Bella, uneasy about our "solution," grudgingly sat back down in her chair to resume eating.

I left, but was summoned again a few minutes later as my little sister had located the ant's mangled corpse once again.

*sigh*

"Alright Bella, stop that. That's quite enough," I said permanently eliminating the problem with my foot, "It's gone for good now." I looked at her, and in turn, she looked down at the spot with her hands again in a position of scrutiny on her hips. Not able to locate the 'beast,' she held her hands up in an inquirative shrug, asking, "Where did it go to?" Picking her up (buying time), I blurted, "Ca…CandyLand." I closed my eyes. Why did I say that? Opening my eyes, I saw that my little benevolent had digested this answer quite well, and that her little heart was at last at ease. I quickly decided I would stick with my answer, as I cuddled her in my arms. "Let's go find some candy," I said, thrilled as her eyes lit up with joy. "Okay," she said, smiling...

Trust

Have you ever gone through something that absolutely devastated your life? Tears fall as you realize everything you have ever known will never be the same. As your world literally crashes all around you, suddenly, you wake up, and find that you are staring up at the dark ceiling and realize that it is three in the morning, eventually realizing that you were only dreaming. Sighing in relief and offering up a prayer of broken thankfulness to God, you wipe the tears away with your blanket and turn to the other, non-tear-soaked side of the pillow. Have you ever had one of those dreams?

I have. It is such a relief to know that everything is okay. It is such a comfort to know that God has you in his hands, and that everything that was troubling you was nothing.

Hey wait! Isn't that just like with real life? Hey, don't judge me, I already know I'm sort of crazy—just bear with me here. I mean, real-life is just like dream-life, right? Granted, maybe real-life doesn't have flying hippos or moonwalking dinosaurs, but one could draw lines in this case, right?

Right?

Right.


When we're crying in a dream, we wake up and realize that there's absolutely nothing to cry about. Life is cruel, and tears seem to be the only antidote sometimes. But in real-life, would we be shedding tears of pain if we could "wake up" and realize that God still has us? Realizing that He has us in His loving hands, and that He will never let us go, how could we really cry...in pain anyway? Back to the former example: After a particularly horrible dream in which I lost everything, I woke up and realized I was still "alive" (yes, it was very awful :P). I wept for joy, grasping that I was crying for no reason and that everything was okay. Let me pause here for a moment to quote a friend:

"…It's just a cool feeling. Especially when you wake up and realize there's nothing to cry about."

Cool. Thanks buddy, couldn't have said it better myself. Where was I? Ah yes…

Now, I realize that in "real-life" it isn't quite that simple. Actually, I don't because, isn't it? *nods head, even though he is writing* Are we not God's beloved children? Jesus says in Matthew:

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not ONE of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of the Father. And even the very hairs of your head are numbered." –Matthew 10:28-30

Sparrows. Yeah, they were like the ultimate two-for-a-buck deal at this time; yet, not "one" of them could fall to the ground without it being God's will.

"So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." –Matthew 10:31

Simply beautiful. So, what does this mean? Does it mean that God loves you and everything is just a dream and you won't ever have to trials and heartbreaking hardships? *sigh* No. This is how real-life differs from dream-life: in real-life we can't just wake up and bid farewell to the bad dream. In dream-life we can weep for joy, because we know that it is all alright. Stop right there. Shouldn't that be the same reaction in the real, non-dream world? God still has us; nothing has changed. Nothing can change his love for us, and nothing can change His power and His will.

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness" –Jeremiah 31:3

Moreover:

"…I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" –Jeremiah 29:11

Though life may look dire at the moment, difficulties in this life only make us stronger, and eventually, when we surpass the trials, we will emerge victorious in the Lord. Paul was onto something when he said:

    "Not only so, but we rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character, and character, hope." –Romans 5:3

We can literally 'wake-up," and see that God has us, even through the trials of this life. We can have joy, knowing that we are in His arms, because really, where else would we want to be? And we will have hope, because we know that God is going to take us through this. You can bet on it.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." –Romans 8:28

What do you think? Let us talk…