This is just greeat.

A motorist was injured Friday when a window of her car exploded as she drove on a stretch of Interstate 580 in the East Bay where a sniper is suspected of firing shots at five other vehicles this week, the California Highway Patrol said.

Not that this would stop me from driving out there since I-580 is the only way to get to Livermore, where my folks live, but this dude needs a taste of his own medicine once they catch him. The good news is that he hasn’t killed anybody; the bad news is that the CHP haven’t caught him yet. (I would like to say that it’s worse that nobody’s out there to track the guy with their own equipment, but that’s a sniper aficionado’s wet dream. That and this is notorious anti-gun country where I’m at.)

I’m not talking about Elvis. I’m talking about Stephen King.

I’m currently reading his On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft and it’s such a fun book because he’s blunt about, well, everything.

To date, this is probably the only book of his that I’ve actually read. Cripes, I haven’t seen a single movie adaptation of one of his numerous novels because I’m not a big fan of horror in general. Nope, I haven’t even seen Carrie. However, Dreamcatcher is sitting on my bookshelf and I’ve told myself that I will read it - someday soon…

So, what books and/or movie adaptations of Stephen King’s work have you read/seen?

Seth at Nowheresville has a request:

…What I want is for someone to show me (and my eager audience) acceptable evidence that this is the case - that God truly intends the father to rule over his daughter until she marries. I’ve heard many people speak of this as if it were biblical and I want proof! Or at least evidence. I’m tired of Christians taking a presupposed ideology and forcing it as an interpretive framework upon Scripture.

Go read the whole thing and deposit your $0.02 in his comments.

I think I’m making myself sick (not literally), talking about this movie so much. So this will be my last post on the subject, promise.

Collin Hansen from Christianity Today Magazine talks about why some Jews, like ADL Director Abraham Foxman, are afraid about the possible impact this film might have once it’s released. I don’t blame this guy for feeling the way he feels, really.

I was looking over my post from last year and thought a bit about the current world situation where Jews are concerned. I can’t really think of any Christian who’d want to go on a Jew-killing spree.

There is only one expansive group out there that’s inciting hatred towards Jews right now.

And they ain’t Christians, either.

Since the Massachusetts supreme court decision and S.F. Mayor Gavin Newsom began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples last week, there’ve been a slew of posts from around the blogosphere on the topic of gay marriage. Here’s a look at what some folks are saying:

Joshua Claybourn and Joe Carter from The Evangelical Outpost discuss political reality and same-sex fidelity.

Rev. Donald Sensing says Christian traditionalists need to realize we lost this fight forty years ago and suggests we should separate the legal and spiritual aspects of weddings. Michael Williams and Baldilocks also comment on the culture factor in the gay marriage debate.

Don’t miss Josh’s commentary on Mayor Newsom’s contempt for the law. Glenn Reynolds posts on this aspect, too.

Lt. Smash says winning favorable decisions in the courts is a strategy that will backfire socially for gay rights activists. I’m inclined to agree.

Jon Barlow observes that the gay marriage debate is putting a spotlight on the matter of sexual ethics.

Nikkiana offers her input, as well. (This is a great way to procrastinate on homework!)

My mom bought me a watch a week or so ago, and I can’t stand wearing it, for some reason. It’s not that I don’t like the band color (red) or that the watch doesn’t have a little button to make the face glow when it’s dark. Up until now I’ve been using the little clock on my cell phone to keep track of time.

Keep track of time…

Maybe that’s the thing. Maybe it just seems like a big bother.

I wrote about this movie last year, and since it seems like the controversy hasn’t exactly died down, I’ll note with some amusement that none of Mel Gibson’s serious critics have seen the movie yet.

I’m still recovering from weekend wedding festivities, but there are a few things I hope to post about soon.

For one thing, this gay marriage deal is really bothering me, for some reason. I’m not even sure why.

And did I mention that I’m quite close to finally getting my driver’s license? No? Well, now you know. (Yeah, yeah, it’s about bloody time already…)

In a laptop vs. desktop match, I would’ve rooted for the desktop at one time, but I’ve mended my ways since. Laptops are just more convenient suitable for people who like traveling all over the place, y’know?

I’m fixated on the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack. Don’t own it yet, though. (Hint, hint.)

And I need sleep. So g’nite.

One would think those two terms are synonymous and/or usually work hand in hand, but as Daniel Morris points out, sometimes that’s not always the case.

Only “sometimes"? Hmmm - you tell me.

Or Happy Singles Awareness Day.

Or Happy Red and Pink Day.

Whichever fits you best.

The various Creative Writing classes I’ve taken so far held small poetry readings where students could read their work from the semester. Yesterday, I went to an actual poetry reading up in the department’s Poetry Center, and it was, well, interesting.

For one thing, it was interesting to listen to someone read their published work - I found it a little difficult to focus on both the poet and on the piece, and I noticed that some people around me listened to him read with their eyes closed. Also, the poem sounds different when it’s read aloud; on paper, I couldn’t tell how I was supposed to react at certain parts. Was I supposed to laugh after that stanza? Contemplate? Did this line break mean something? Strange how something doesn’t come alive until you hear it.

And the poets were very down to earth and fun to interact with. I went up to one of them afterwards to ask him a question - and to get his autograph. “Are they forcing you guys to read my stuff?” he asked in return. “There’s a class, I know, that had to buy my books for required reading, and I was flipping through one of those textbooks awhile ago. Someone had written on the very back of the book, ‘What the —- is this —-?’ So of course I had to buy it!”

This is a huge topic that seems to often slip under the radar, but I think it depends on the individual. I, for one, am very tired of college at this point, but I really need that piece of paper. It helps that most of the classes I’m taking this semester are fun and the professors relatively easygoing. But come December - I am so outta there.

I tried to write this silly post once already and it turned into a sermon. I don’t do sermons. I’m more comfortable ranting. So - said rant will be quick before I start deviating into tangents that I’ll leave for my senior pastor to tackle on any given Sunday.

2004 has been very different so far. I’m not sure if anyone’s noticed, but I’ve taken a break from certain aspects of my life, both off- and online, to spend a little time getting my life in order. Life in general has been pretty hectic with a wedding and school to think about, but the slice of life I’m talking about in this post comprises an integral part of me: my Christianity.

Where that part of me is concerned, the rundown goes something like this: I am tired of being such a passive Christian. Nominal Christianity (Sunday-only Christianity, basically) is impossible to maintain. It means going to a nice-looking building with stained-glass windows every Sunday to sing songs I don’t really mean and to hear a feel-good lesson about life that I could’ve probably read out of a self-help book. No thanks.

I’m tired of being a passive Christian. And the only way to become a passionate Christian is to step away from everything that’s familiar and comfortable to me and become a pioneer and a wanderer.

This means viewing what Christianity means to me not as a weekly trudge to the sanctuary for a sermon and a couple of songs, but as a personal adventure with God. That sounds so weird, doesn’t it? For one thing, this is God we’re talking about. That distant, unseen being who I’m supposed to be serving. How can anyone have an adventure - with God of all people!?

Easy. Let Him define my horizons. To be in control of my own situation means maintaining this spiritual routine that bores me to death already. But what if I left all that up to God? What if I told Him, “Okay, God, I’m tired of this crap. Give me a challenge already - otherwise, I’m gone.”

They say be careful what you wish for. That applies also to prayers, because one may regret what they ask God to do if they’re not prepared for the answer they receive.

That’s where I am right now. I stepped out and challenged Him to give me an adventure to live - now it’s a matter of actually accepting whether or not I want to embark on that adventure. I don’t know what’s in store for me, all of my expectations got kicked out of the house, and the horizon I had defined for myself disappeared as if God had used the eraser at the end of His pencil, which I suspect He did.

Do you have any idea how frightening that is? It’s like deciding to go on a hiking trip in Mongolia without a guide. And I am not the sort of person who will do anything or go anywhere if I don’t know what the itinerary is. I’m afraid God doesn’t hand those out, even when we ask nicely. This, to me, is true risk-taking.

So - that’s what’s going on with me right now. It’s difficult to be upfront about something so meaningful to me when I have a tendency to be mysterious and eloquent enough in most of my posts here that people don’t really react much unless I churn out something really out there. But in case you’ve been wondering why I’ve been absent, this is why.

And “taking a break” in this case is relative. I don’t know if I’ll return to the aspects of my life that I decided to take a sabbatical from. But I’ll still be here.

When you know all the bus drivers’ names on your regular route and they know yours.

At least I can’t say the same thing for the train engineers.

Look, Your Worshipfulness, let’s get one thing straight! I take orders from one person! Me! - Han Solo

My real name means “princess.” By definition, a princess is a member of a royal household, royalty referring to a ruling monarchy. I already know who my King is.

This post might seem rather egotistical, but I was recently asked if I knew what my name really meant. Well, yeah. “Princess.” And now that I think about it, I’ve always taken the meaning of my name seriously. In fact, when some stores and clothing lines began producing certain articles of clothing that boasted “I’m a Princess!” about the girl wearing it, I got miffed. Especially if I knew that girl’s name did NOT mean “princess.”

What is the first thing that comes to mind when one tries to visualize a princess? I usually see a girl or young woman who is the epitome of Beauty, or becoming one: gowns of silk, slippers, precious jewelry, subtle perfume, glistening skin and perfect hair. She is also highly cultured and educated, well-versed in the proper courtly mannerisms, and if she is being groomed to inherit the crown one day, she will also be diplomatic and polite.

Depending on her personality and upbringing, a princess would be gracious if not graceful, courteous, kind, generous, sheltered, insecure, conceited, selfish, and even ruthless. Her people could love or hate her - her popularity with the citizenry rises and falls in direct proportion to this factor.

I can’t tell you if I truly possess all of these traits, but perhaps it doesn’t matter. I have always been rather weary of my name because there are many other girls who also carry it. But now I take the meaning of my name to heart.

Someday, I’ll be able to actually live up to it.

I guess there won’t be any dancing at the wedding after all.

It’s going to be a very small ceremony, with only immediate family in attendance. The way Mir and Brian had originally wanted it.

On Valentine’s Day.

Woohoo!