sunkissedj's Xanga

Random Observations in November

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 00:22:09 GMT

1. It’s unbelievable. We’re still TWO weeks away from Thanksgiving, and Christmas music is already being played at my local Wal-Mart. NUTS.

2. How to seriously waste money: Buy Palmolive’s new OxyPlusFoam product. You can get almost TWICE as much product if you buy the liquid OxyPlus product, at ONE-THIRD the price… or, if you like, make your own Foam product. Here’s how. Use a ratio of 1:16—dilute liquid OxyPlus with 16x the amount of water, put the mixture in the Foam bottle, and shake it up real well. There you go!

4. How to save money: Buy a seemingly-expensive bottle of eye make-up remover/face cleanser ($16.50 for Take the Day Off and $17.50 for Foaming Cleanser) versus buying seemingly-cheap make-up remover towelettes. Reason why this saves money? The $34.00 you spend on the "brand" stuff-name actually lasts... 3 months (eyes) to 6 months (face) [yes, I'm tracking it]. The towelettes? 3 weeks. Breakdown... $8.50 per month vs. $8.50 per three weeks.

Well, I guess towelettes are convenient, but I'm convinced they don't clean as well. Also, cotton wool is biodegradable, but the towelettes? Not so much.

3. Only truly insane people sign up for graduate school. Yeah, like me. I'm certified nuts.

4. Due to the location of my office, I have memorized the songs the school band is playing for the Christmas concert, including a set of scales. Sigh.

5. There have been serious political upheavals in Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan, and now Georgia (the country, NOT the state). Sad. :(

6. The mortgage "meltdown" has NOT affected Hawaii real-estate. Yes, read my lips. NOT. The average price for a single-family, 3BR/2BA home here? Still (drumroll) $650,000 BUCKEROOS.

Easier Prayed than Lived

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 05:35:04 GMT

A while ago, I posted a daring prayer by John Wesley that goes like this:

"I am no longer my own, but yours.
Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will;
Put me to doing; put me to suffering;
Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you,
Exalted for you, or trodden underfoot for you;

Let me be full, let me be empty;
Let me have all things, let me have nothing;
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

And now, glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
You are mine and I am yours. So be it."

This is truly a prayer easier prayed than lived. I honestly can say I am sincere when I tell God that my life is His, and that He is my Master.

But when tested... when others "trod me underfoot," I cannot say my attitude is Christ-like.
When ranked lower rather than higher, when laid aside rather than busily employed, when empty rather than full...

I rage, I vent, I rant, I grumble, I smoulder.

To be meek is to be so confident in God's love and approval for me (Matt 3) that I need prove nothing to no one else (Matt 11), even those closest to me who might misunderstand my purpose, who mistake my choices as inaction, or who fail to see what God has called me to be and do.

I am not meek. I struggle to always self-justify, prove myself (to whom?), self-aggrandize, grab more territory.

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart,
And you will find rest for your souls."

Waiting for the Police

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 18:35:09 GMT

So, this AM I walked out to my car to go to work & somebody had randomly smashed its driver-side front window in, I guess during the night (we park on the street).

SIGH.

The joys of living in a city.

So, I'm waiting for the police to show up.

SIGH.

Madness of Skincare Products, Update

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 07:58:10 GMT

Update: ONE month later (Sept 25).

Time for my 6-month update on the products I am STILL using:

1. Neutrogena Make-up Removel Towelettes (for eyes and face)
2. I (still) use a Clinique foaming cleanser to take off the rest of my make-up (it lasts forever... just a dab is enough for your whole face)
3. Neutrogena ~~Visibly Even~~ Healthy Skin/Anti-wrinkle/blemish cleanser (the Visibly Even one I use in the shower in the AM) to clean my face
4. Neutrogena ~~Clear Pore~~ Pore Refining toner (finished the other one; this one has weaker alcohol content but adds an AHA and has a nice fragrance. I have a couple of Clinique samples, but... price is prohibitive.
5. Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel (the lotion is too rich for my skin but the gel is perfect). It lasts FOREVER. A half-pump is enough for the whole face. On days when I know I'll be in the sun, I am now using Clinique's Superdefense/SPF 25 for oily skin. I love this. It has the SPF (UVA/UVB) without the greasy feel and doesn't leave the "white" look on your face. At night, the sample of Clinique Turnaround concentrate. Makes my skin feel soft & smooth!

I will need to go back to Prescriptives for more of my foundation soon.
I love Clinique's Pore Minimizer/T-Zone Shine Control. It works well, even with my super greasy nose.

Room with a View

Sat, 28 Jul 2007 23:59:35 GMT

Last night, Bear took me on an amazing date to the Top of Waikiki, a revolving restaurant with a 360deg view of Waikiki. It takes approximately one hour for the entire restaurant to fully revolve.

When we arrived just before 7 pm, it was still very bright, and we could see from Diamond Head to the Ewa Coast--a breathtaking sunset over the Waianae Range. Great views of the famous "Pink Hotel" (Royal Hawaiian hotel) too.

The food was only so-so for the price, but the view did make up for it. We did have a lot of fun doing the cheese fondue, but my Lamb Three Ways was a little more gamey than I have been used to in the past.

And then, promptly just before 8 pm, as the sky darkened, we were treated to a spectacular view of the weekly "King's Jubilee" fireworks at the Hilton Hawaiian!

WOW. This date that he planned is a hard one to beat! Since we're already married, I guess he couldn't top it off by proposing to me, but it felt like the type of moment that was perfect for a proposal. ;P

Ahhh, marriage. :)

WalMarts for Wangs

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 07:18:04 GMT

MSN Money has a fascinating series on the rise of the middle class in Communist China, and particularly, on the success of WalMart in China.

The articles reveal some cool cultural differences, with which I can easily identify (especially the live seafood) ... as I am always straddling my "Western" and "Eastern" halves.

For example, WalMart in China caters to Chinese eating tastes, but also the preference for buying food fresh rather than packaged, and caters to the tight spaces in Chinese condos.

Seeing is Believing

Tue, 10 Jul 2007 08:32:21 GMT

This must be seen to be believed.

A Great Passage

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 05:04:20 GMT

Bear preached on this passage today, and though I've read it many, many times, I took away some great thoughts from his sermon.

God is love.

[Bear said, God's DNA is love. At His very core, that's who He is, and every action He does springs from His identity as love. He's good, we say, but He is good because He is love.]

By this the love of God was proved to us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we might live through Him. This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

[Bear talked about love as emotion and action. The loving action from someone who knows love produces the emotion of love in another person, who having been loved, can then love someone else. We have been loved by God, whose action was the sacrifice of His Son. Hopefully, we can continue the Love Cycle.]

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected/made complete in us.

[Bear talked about practicing love... like someone practices an instrument. As we practice loving someone, especially someone who mistreats us, our love is matured and perfected as we learn how God has loved us even when we mistreated Him.]

By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him.

[Bear said this is the hard part and the challenge--relying on God's Spirit, abiding in God's love, in order to love others. Not going it alone. Believing is more than just intellectually believing; believing is relying and leaning on God's love. "We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us." I can testify that at times in our marriage, both of us have wanted to throw up our hands, but minute by minute, leaning on the love of God has helped us to go on...]

By this [process of abiding in love], love is perfected in us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfected love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected/made complete in love.

[Bear referred to Matt 22, where Jesus tells the Pharisees that keeping all the Law and Prophets is dependent (lit., hangs on) loving God and loving one's neighbor. In other words, holiness can be distilled into the word "love." If we abide in love, Bear argued, and we become love the way God IS love, every action would be loving, emerging from WHO we are... And we would become naturally holy people who have confidence in the day of judgment.]

We love, because He first loved us. If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.

[Bear referred to this as the test of the truth of our lives. If someone says he's a musician but can't play a note, he is a liar. Someone who calls himself a Christ-follower/a Christian, but does not represent Christ, who loved, is also a liar. Bear said this very lovingly... but truthfully. We must abide in God's love until it's who we are... and then who we are unfolds into what we do.

It's a lot easier said than done, but I can safely say we are both learning to practice abiding in God's love (dwelling in His love for us) and to practice loving each other.]

A Fascinating Digression

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 07:54:02 GMT

Listen to this interview with an open mind, people. I was fascinated, intrigued, and found myself nodding in agreement many times...

A woman of faith

Beauty is a Beast

Fri, 06 Jul 2007 00:02:38 GMT

Part II.

As I mentioned before, if taken strictly in its external meaning, beauty in the Bible is problematic. It causes problematic situations.

Can we avoid these social and sexually-charged entanglements by redefining beauty (as so many Christian "for women" writers) have done as an internal quality? After all, "internal beauty" (whatever that means) would be something that would make life simple, make everyone like each other, no cat fights, no jealousy, no envy, right? Wouldn't it make every church social purr along smoothly?

Yet, I think to do so would be to run away from the fact that, basically, instinctually, we know that EVERYONE thinks of beauty (if we were to all be brutally honest with ourselves) as mostly external.

I spent some of yesterday at the famed Ala Moana mall people-watching with my husband. And truth be told, I saw not a single beautiful woman. Pretty women? Two or three. But beautiful? No, not by my standards. If beauty is defined as that face that makes a thousand ships launch or makes heads turn, like say, Audrey Hepburn or Christy Turlington... than truthfully... few women are "beautiful."

PLUS... if we could so conveniently define beauty as "internal," then why the heck do we spend SO MUCH MONEY on "beauty products" that are just external??? Why diet, and exfoliate, and pluck, and make up? So, I would argue that we can't just conveniently and "Christianly" redefine beauty as internal. Not if we are candid with our souls.