Karen's story

I read this story from Karen--

Hello All,

Just a little bit giddy so I thought I'd tell you all a story....

So a girl came home yesterday (for the purposes of this story, we
shall call her "Karen") and her boyfriend (for the purposes of this
story, we shall call him "Jeff") was already home getting read for
their afternoon bike ride.

Now Karen didn't really feel like a bike ride and suggested they go
for a run instead, but Jeff was persistent and soon they found
themselves riding along the sunny roads of their little storybook
town (Let's just call the town "Nashua, NH" for now).

Both Karen and Jeff were enjoying their bike ride, Karen even began
to sing the "I love Bike" song as they rode along. (The song goes
something like this: "I love Bike, I love Bike, bike bike bike...")

Now the end of their bike rides include a huge hill they need to
summit in order to get back home. Karen wasn't feeling like tackling
the hill, but she put her head down and zoomed after Jeff as they
raced up the hill. (I would like to call this hill "Heartbreak Hill"
but it's better known as the "Kessler Farm Hill" by the locals).

When they were almost at the top, Jeff suggested they stop by an
old farm structure that had recently had some restoration work
done. Karen was being a little poopy and didn't want to stop.
Reluctantly she got off her bike, threw it down in a huff, and
sulked up the hill towards the old farm house.

Jeff took them around the farm house and noted the lovely flowers
and bench on the other side of the structure. It was at this time
that Karen began to warm up to the idea of taking a little break
and enjoying the scenic view. Just as Karen turned around to talk
to Jeff, there he was on his knee with a little blue box in his
hands...

I believe the story from there goes a little like this:

Jeff: "Will you marry me?"

Karen's mental interpretation in slow-motion:
'something-something-something...oh my gosh, I think he's
proposing...better focus...wait...oh my gosh, he IS proposing...
here?! now?! OH my - yes - YES - hooray!'

What actually came out: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Yes, YES,
what I meant was YES!"

(Editor's Note: Karen is a dumb-ass)

Then back home for Jeff's home-made gravlox and a wonderful
bottle of champagne!

Those are the highlights of the story, the rest have been blinded
by a sparkly new ring. (my precious??)

Karen


That was a beautiful heartfelt story. Congratulations.

QQ

Probably because of my international background, many of my friends are scattered around the globe, and more are leaving the US and going to places far away. I have been trying to convince my friends to start blogging, so they don’t have to write mass emails and I can still find out what they are up to. Well, good news. QQ is starting a new blog. Her blog site is tipperoonie.blogspot.com. I like her start. Her blog is as entertaining as her person.

On a separate note, my New Year resolutions are keeping a blog and exercising. I am not doing so bad with blogging, am I? Sure I am behind on the weekly-update schedule, but I can use the excuse of being busy. Unfortunately, morning exercise routine has been completely broken. I have gone back to my favorite physical activity—couch warming.

Couch potatoes are so unattractive these days. Everyone around me is exercising. Being busy is no excuse. My officemate Seb, despite being on the job market this year and having to finish up his Ph.D., still manages to find time to pump up his muscles. I experienced such a shock when YE, an ex-couch-potato, started telling me the benefits of exercise. Mike was telling me the other day that he was going for a jog, and I saw him run only once in the eight years that I have known him. Even Run, who claims that only money can push his nose to the grindstone, is running. What has the world turned into?! I can certainly feel the pressure now. It is high time for me to pick up my morning exercise again.

Allergy

Spring has finally reached Chicago. I love the greens and the sunshine. On the flipside, my allergy is back. In addition, I have noticed my allergy is getting worse--I have officially become severely allergic to religious fundamentalism, thanks to the proliferating mention of God in politics. I can no longer stand listening to or watching or even being in the same room with religious fanatics any more.

Allergy has no cure, but effective medicine can alleviate the symptoms. Here is one piece of news that brings me almost as much glee as Dick Cheney misfiring on a quail-hunting trip. National Geographic is releasing the content of a 1,700-year-old early Christian manuscript that includes the Gospel of Judas, the authenticity of which authorities agree on, that portrays Judas as the favorite disciple of Jesus, that the betrayal of Judas was an assignment, not a betrayal.

I am not necessarily concluding that Judas was indeed Jesus’ friend. People’s outlook was very different then. I can draw an analogy with Buddhists’ belief. Buddhists interpret their sufferings as a design, as something that has meaning or purpose. Same deal goes with that manuscript. People who wrote the manuscript might have felt the same resignation as Buddhists do, consequently Judas did not come across negative.

I am speaking from a cultural relativist’ viewpoint. I do wonder, however, how fundamentalists might interpret this new piece of information? Would they stick to their literal past and attack the authenticity of the manuscript? Would they maybe switch guns and use a relativist argument? We will see how this new drama plays out.

On a separate but related topic, a few months ago the British got really angry with Tony Blair speaking of God on a public radio show about the Iraqi war. I listened to Blair’s original remarks, and thought, oh, this is not bad, not bad at all compared to what we’ve got to put up with; why are the Brits so angry? The British response was that a politician could be as religious as he wanted to be, but he must only report to his constituency regarding public office matters. Conscience and religious belief must be confined to private life. This makes sense. This is what democracy should be after all.

Rebecca

Rebecca Nesvet is coming back to the US! She will be on study leave in NYC for the next two years, writing plays at the MFA Dramatic Writing program at Tisch/NYU and hopefully teaching there. How cool is that?! On the other hand, this reminds me that I am a bad friend. For all the past five years that Rebecca has been away in Whales, I never went to visit even though I told myself many times that I would. I do have the chance to redeem myself though. Rebecca plans on moving back – she loves being British. :) In any case, I will see ya soon!