Holly Brook - Wanted

Yesterday, my friend introduced me to Picnik, which I have dubbed "Photoshop for idiots", namely, me. Anyway, during my lunch break, I got around to playing with it and here is one of my two creations from today.

This features Grand Gateway, one of my favourite places in Shanghai. Xujiahui is the name of the part of town it's in. I know the words are a little too high, but something got messed up when I was saving it. So.

I did a better one of my friend and my sister, but the file is too huge.

The Killers - All These Things That I've Done

I think Plato prophetically summarised America when he said

Excess of liberty, whether it lies in state or individuals, seems only to pass into excess of slavery.

Joshua Bell - In Trutina

I am confused about life.

I know that doesn't sound very impressive. Many people are confused with life. However, for the last year in my life, I've been clearly defined in my emotions. If I'm happy, I'm happy. If I'm sad, I'm sad.

Recently, I am happy, but I feel like I'm wasting my time with frivolous entertainments. I'm angry, but I feel petty and unreasonable in my anger. I'm sad, but I feel that I have no right to be sad because there's so much more sadness in the world.

I wish life would be simple again.

Lucinda Williams - Are You Alright

I felt I needed to post something... I guess this is quite relevant. If you haven't noticed, all the titles of my posts is the title of the song I'm listening to at the moment. So welcome to the soudntrack to my life.

THIS IS TO MIKI'S FAVOURITE MUSIC PLAYLIST ON iTUNES.

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?

So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...

Opening Credits: Ella Fitzgerald - You're the Top

Waking Up: Brooke Fraser - Love is Waiting

First Day At School: Jamie T - Calm Down Dearest

Secondary School: Rascal Flatts - What Hurts the Most

Falling In Love: Travis - Closer

Fight Song: Tim Hughes & 29th Chapter - Saviour

Breaking Up: The Return of the King soundtrack - the Grey Havens

Prom: Hayley Westenra - Quanta Qualia

Life: Dido - Life for Rent

Mental Breakdown: Matt Redman - My Soul is Complete

Driving: Edward Ross - the Breaking of the Fellowship

Flashback: Hillsong Live - This is Our God

Getting Back Together: Mamma Mia! soundtrack - Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)

Wedding: Switchfoot - Dare You to Move

Birth of Child: Juli - Geile Zeit

Final Battle: Hillsong Live - You'll Come

Death Scene: Belle & Sebastian - Piazza, New York Catcher

Funeral Song: Coldplay - the Hardest Part

End Credits: Coldplay - Sparks

Amy Adams - Happy Working Song

It's cold now - cold enough for long sleeves, sweatshirts and woolly socks in an unheated room - and I feel like I'm up in the Lake District in the middle of August again.

If I think about it, I had a miserable time in England.

I didn't have proper hiking boots and my trainers weren't waterproof, which resulted in me going up and down a mountain and all over the Lake District in purple wellies which, when I converted it over, cost me less than a pound.

At Soul Survivor, I didn't have a proper cagoule except for an embarressing long, tan, David Tennat-esque one with Burberry print which my mum made me bring because she was absolutely convinced that my sensible black one which served me well in Australia wouldn't be enough. I would have more likely tripped over the long hem going up the mountain and tumbled down into the glacial valley below.

And then, I didn't shower for four days at Soul Survivor. It was horribly gross. My hair got nasty. I wasn't at my most attractive. And when I did take a shower, the portable shower had a puddle of nasty, soapy, muddy water which I had to stand in because the water wouldn't drain away properly.

It was the middle of August and I was catching colds and suffering from allergic reactiosn to the tons of carpets they lay down in the house. (For goodness' sake, they have carpets in their bathrooms.) I was constantly tramping around in sweatshirts (there was one warm day there), scarves, et cetera...

To top it off, while we were in Wales, I was sleeping alone in a tent (a purple, "pappy" [as Emma would say] tent) while a storm raged, causing me to nearly inhale the waterproof material as it billowed in my face while I slept.

Also, when we went swimming in the Welsh sea, all my friends had wetsuits while I ran into the water with my summer swim suit. (Okay, Tom, Jake and Isaac had no wetsuits either, but that doesn't count; they're boys. I'm not acknowledging their superiority, I'm just saying that they're guys.) I might as well have gone in stark naked.

Then, in London, my friend convinced me that you had to wear a skirt to a West End show. My skirt is built for summer and not for wind, causing it nearly to expose my plain, cotton "Mummy-pants" (in the words of Bridget Jones) as I climbed the steps up the Apollo Victoria Theatre.

*fume*

But anyway.

I <3 U.K.

U2 - Mysterious Ways

Cogratulations, Obama!

Dexys Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen

Admittedly, I've never read Doctor Mary Pipher's book Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls. (I read the excerpt of it on Amazon.com, though, and it looks very interesting.) Essentially, Doctor Pipher is saying that as girls enter the adolescent stage, they lose who they truly are inside and confine themselves into the narrow definition of women, that women must be docile and submissive and please others instead of thinking, "Who am I? What do I want?"

Some people think that feminism is not what the Bible teaches. The Bibles teaches that "Wives, submit to your husbands" (Ephesians 5:22). Some people take this very seriously. I know some people who used to go to a church who refused to let their wives work, because if wives earned their own income, you can't really be submissive to your husband.

I'm not a feminist, and yet I've never been one who bows my head or lowers my eyes at the oncoming male. When I first read that verse, I began to struggle with wondering that if God created all men (I take this to mean wo-men as well, too) equal, and if God loves us all, why should we be submissive? Why does it sound like men have to bruise our heads under their heel?

Then, I heard a sermon (unfortunately, I don't remember the source) that my mum was playing on our CD player which was very interesting... It said that women were not created from a bone from the man's leg, so that the man would not step on her; women were not created from the man's head, so that she would not rule the man. Instead, she was created from his ribs, so that she will be able to support him.

Slowly, I began to work my opinions out. I believe that women can have their own opinions (didn't the Lord not deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman?) and their own strength. In a healthy marriage, a husband and wife should talk it out, and the husband should hear his wife's opinions. But ultimately, it is the husband's decision.

(I know easier said than done, but that's another issue I'll deal with when I'm there :-D.)

For many years, I felt that I was and knew that I was rather unusual. I didn't like shopping, I never really struggled with self-image, I didn't really care what boys thought of me.

And the subject of "boys" is another issue.

I'm not afraid of guys and what they think of me. I've gotten something of a reputation of arguing with guys, not being afraid of being teased by them... For a while, it was fun. Then, after a while, my mum told me (with the best intentions) that I might be scaring guys off. This got me worried until one day, one of my guy friends started trying to hook me up with his best friend. When I inquired why, my friend said, "Well, he relates to you better than any girl."

"Oh."

I don't care if guys are scared off by me. In my opinion, that either means that they're expecting the girl to curl up, giggle and die, or they don't like me for who I am (or at least, the side that hates guys who expect girls to curl up, giggle and die).

But suddenly, recently, with a recent influx of more teenage girls into my homeschooling group of friends, I feel the pressure to conform...

Shopping, face, body, image...

If we are so liberated and emancipated, why do we fear what others think of us? Why can't we be proud to be women - a woman, the one who God intended for us to be? Who gives a shite about what the media wants us to be? You do realise that the image of skinny women only really came after the widespread influence of the media?

Be proud. Be you.