To get to Tokyo, Japan, from Seattle, Washington, just go to Google Maps and they will give you the most direct route. Pay strict attention to lines 8 and 22! (This is similar to another Google Maps joke .)

In Luke 14, Jesus says (among other things)... Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.' That made me think of a tower in Akron . A televangelist started a huge building project, but fell into financial troubles, and to this day an unfinished tower stands in the middle of the old shopping area.

The nature of a J-term is peculiar. The student has only one class, but this class lasts only three and a half weeks. It's an intensive course, but at the same time J-term is the most relaxed time of the year. And a snowstorm will affect a J-term more than a normal semester, because any snow day is bound to cancel at least one hour of class, more likely two. (We had a snow day this past week; 'twas quite fun.) And between the J-term and the spring semester is a break for a few days; mine lasts from today through Wednesday. It's a time to go back to visit family for the first time since around New Year's, and to remember anew how cold one's family keeps one's home (it's like sixty-six here, if that! And my room at college is much warmer than that!). I've delved right back into the little affairs of the family. I'm probably going to help Mom some today, and I've already talked to my sis about books and given her a couple that I picked up from

I guess I'm one of those people who would be happy in a number of fields. My passion is journalism... but my other major is Spanish, and I would love to use it... I've just gotten involved with the radio station this year, and can't believe someone can get paid for doing something so fun... I did consider teaching once too... I could see myself being a librarian... Once I thought I would sing for a career... Writing a book sounds extremely appealing... And of course there's the daycare provider angle... But anyhow. All this to say that I am seriously considering adding radio broadcasting as a minor, on top of the majors I already have. And there's a slim chance I could still graduate in four years!

Gabcast! Audio #2 Testing (again); DJing at the college radio station.

Gabcast! Audio #1 - The robot voice is odd. This was just basically a test to see how it works.

*parties* According to my e-mail (to which all comments are sent), I was responsible for the 500th comment... down in my post about skeleton inaugural addresses . But since I know some comments weren't sent there (for some glitchy reason I guess), I shall award the "commenter of the day" award to my sister, who makes about a third of the comments on here anyway. :-) And if you care, I'm very close to 300 posts....

Seriously. One of my better-liked magazine writers, living in China, posted a couple things on his blog about it: I have been more affected by the preceding 2.5 years in China than I thought. For instance: ...I would have taken it for granted if certain live dispatches from the US or Europe suddenly disappeared from the screen.... But from within the US on this trip, I realize that it's actually quite incredible that Chinese broadcast authorities-- representing the world's most populous nation, the one whose relations with the U.S. will make a huge difference to the entire world's future, the country that presented itself to all other countries as a full, major, mature power with its Olympic games -- would pull the plug on live coverage of Barack Obama's inaugural address just because Obama began talking about the virtues of dissent. More here and in his second post about it . There's also the question of whether Chinese authorities rip open your mail packages

...the anniversary was yesterday. Phil Keaggy--"Little Ones" Who will speak up for the little ones? Helpless and half-abandoned. They've got the right to choose life They don't want to lose, I've got to speak up, won't you? Equal rights, equal time, for the unborn children. Their precious lives are on the line, How can we be rid of them? Passing laws, passing out Bills and new amendments. Pay the cost and turn about, And face the young defendants. Who will speak up for the little ones? Helpless and half-abandoned. They've got the right to choose life They don't want to lose, I've got to speak up, won't you? Many come and many go, Conceived but not delivered. The toll is astronomical, How can we be indifferent. Little hands, little feet, Tears for Him who made you. Should all on earth forsake you now, But He'll never forsake you. Who will speak up for the little ones? Helpless and half-abandoned. They've g

Barbara Wallraff's post yesterday was hilarious! She quotes a former presidential speechwriter: The kabuki of the typical inaugural can be broken down into specific set pieces; the thoughts arranged in a comforting sequence that would have been instantly familiar one hundred, even two hundred, years ago. And he proceeds to list the ten points that every new president under the sun has used. It cracked me up so much that my roommate asked what was so funny.

I watched the inauguration of President Obama this noontime during lunch. (It was up on big screens in the cafeteria.) A few notes: 1. I loooved having the quartet do the John Williams piece. I even found it on YouTube for future reference. :-) 2. A friend sitting next to me observed that the poet did not read as a poet should . You know, with great inflection, feeling, etc. 3. I think Obama confused the Declaration with the Bible in this section: The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness . (emphasis mine; text from NYT ) 4. I noticed the order of events was behind schedule, at least on TV. Assuming that it really is live feed, Obama was not sworn in until after noon....

... wouldn't it be fun to post audio here? So be watching.... I signed up for it tonight.... *big grin*

There was an open-mic performance thing last night in my college's student union. A rare thing, that, but at least we get some use out of the little stage there! When I and my roommate first talked about it a couple days ago, we found that we had each been thinking about participating, and had planned on asking the other to do it together! With such unity of mind, we picked a song (one she wrote last semester) and practiced it a bit. We needed a tenor for it, too, so we roped a fellow choir member into it on Wednesday night. Wednesday night after we finished practicing and he left, the two of us batted around the idea of wearing matching clothing. But of course, yesterday morning my roomie wasn't up, so I just put one something I liked and figured we'd discuss the clothes later, if we were actually serious about it. Last night before the three of us got together to practice again, my roomie went to find a shirt to match mine, and realized she also had a hat like mine, t

According to the blog of a Christian magazine I respect, "personal blogging is dead." Blogging has now become professionalized and formalized into cheap ways to launch a website. Originally, weblogs provided a platform for the common person to journal online for any passerby to read, but now it has become a place to sell advertising... I'm always behind the times, I guess. Probably not the best for an aspiring journalist....

The verb form of service is "to serve." Not "to service." It's as bad as commentate or explicate .

I saw this on Yahoo's featured news this morning. Australia offers 'best job in world' on paradise island The job pays 150,000 Australian dollars (105,000 US dollars) and includes free airfares from the winner's home country to Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland's state government announced on Tuesday. In return, the "island caretaker" will be expected to stroll the white sands, snorkel the reef, take care of "a few minor tasks" -- and report to a global audience via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates. If I weren't planning on studying abroad in the fall... I might almost apply for this... I mean, what better summer job could there be, to earn money for college?? And it's all about communication, just what I'd love!

Wow. My cousin just sent me this video.... at 5:50 this group ("Glad", one of my favorites) does "Just As I Am" in the style of the Beach Boys...!

I did finish "War and Peace" before classes started.... but what can one say about such a long, classic, amazing book? The characters... I could understand all their emotions, so well that I felt like they had been my own at some point. That's how well Tolstoy wrote the characters. And it was fascinating to recognize a predestination-type worldview... over and over, in his essay portions, he said that one man was not the cause of a change in the course of history; one man could never be that cause. The millions of men that make decisions, and the millions more that carry out those decisions (or, just as often, ignore them completely) are, in Tolstoy's world, merely instruments of an inexorable path that history itself lays out, as if history were a being, moving men's hearts and beasts as it wills. Last night I and several friends participated in a campus version of "Family Feud." I never felt so ridiculous in my life, but it was great fun. This im

It's an unnecessary addition to the English language, and smart writers (not to mention the concise and comprehensible ones!) should excise it from their vocabulary. "Explain" does the same job quite nicely, thank you very much. (This word appeared twice in my media ethics textbook!! And it hurts my sense of English every time I see it!)

This website is way too much fun...! The Wayback Machine! And no, this is not an incarnation of Mr. Peabody's old cartoon... though it appears to be named after his and Sherman's gadgety thing. It's a way to see old websites that are now defunct. Like my old blog , even! Proof that I sat on Blogger a full year before switching over from KB.

On New Year's Eve, I spent the entire evening (until one A.M.!) playing group games with a couple other homeschooling families (whom I hardly get to see otherwise). I narrated a couple games of Mafia, and participated in a game similar to both Charades and Catchphrase. We had snacks. I visited with cousins the past couple days. It was lovely. I caught up with the cousin I used to be practically best friends with... I don't get to see her nearly enough! And we had our final Christmas! So, I got some amazing gifts, over this whole Christmas season. I shall relish writing my thank-you notes--of which some may become letters (one at least will). candy the pocket edition of "Daring Book for Girls" earring-necklace set, handmade by my roomie :-) earrings two hatboxes a cute rustic-y wreath of fabric and wire money from my grandparents a DVD of three Audrey Hepburn movies a baby-doll shirt (the kind with the shirred elastic) an Audrey Hepburn-esque dress thing an SD car