"43 minutes into being 20 and I can't avoid being rick roll'd" -Jake.

Go wish him a happy birthday, he's an old man now.

Today I was looking for the website of an organization fairly popular in the homeschool world; My mom bought their most popular book when I was about ten and, though I had no use for the fine art of potty-training six month-olds, I found it pretty interesting. Anyways, this ministry sends out a monthly newsletter with some interesting articles, so I was just looking up the website.
I found a hastily crafted "warning" to anyone who is interested in the work of these people, proclaiming to one and all that the authors are propagators of heresy because they "glorify" the concept of family beyond biblical bounds. I found this claim a bit ludicrous, but continued to read. The author of the warning then linked to a site run by the eldest daughter of this family, claiming that she was also selling false doctrine and undermining the Holy Spirit by posting a sort of dream journal online.
I was curious, so I went to the site. I admit that the set-up of the site was a bit spooky at first glance, but aside from a few ghostly graphics, nothing particularly harmful. The woman, who goes by the pen-name Ruby to separate herself a bit from the family's ministry, explained that she has never considered herself a prophetess or a "fortune teller with a purple turban," she just has always had odd dreams, and her husband encouraged her to write them down, and pray about the more striking ones. I read through some of the dreams/nightmares and, while some of them seemed a tad over-interpreted, they were mostly harmless. The woman explained that she and her husband take some of the dreams seriously, given the fact that the Bible occasionally lists dreams as a means of communication from God. The other site, which condemned her as something mystical and occult, basically said that dreams can never be anything more than random because "We have the Bible and the Holy Spirit"
My question: Couldn't the Holy Spirit work in dreams? Couldn't God work in a dream?
It seems that the church today shies away from anything out of the norm; anything more moving and real than a moderately emotional Sunday service is looked upon with disdain. They actually guard themselves against miracles. What is God if not supernatural? He parted the Red Sea and sent manna from the sky; He, in Jesus, made the blind see and the deaf hear, and the lame walk! Are they really saying that He couldn't give a housewife a dream that means something in her life?
Why, when we know that our God is capable of summoning infinite hosts of angels, do we blind ourselves to the small miracles He may be performing in our lives?

Alright, rant over.

I have roughly a month and a half of school to finish, but I don't want to do it.  -
My dentist is a perfectionist and put little attachments on my teeth to make my Invisalign tighter. -
I haven't touched my camera in at least a week. -

All that said, what makes a person "negative"?  Lately, when I catch myself saying anything other than "Great!" to a question of "How are you?" I feel guilty. I don't want to be the type of person that drains people, but where is the line between sharing one's thoughts and becoming a good-mood vampire?
I guess the answer to that is to think positive thoughts...

I like Loggins and Messina. +
Those silly Dove Real Beauty commercials make me smile. I'm that cheesy. +
I don't have hiccups. + (ish)
Emily is having dance class at her house tomorrow + +
Haley has a Xanga! (link soon) +

Negative l Positive
     3               5 and counting.

I'm a sucker for advice columns, always have been. I never much liked Dear Abby, but Annie was pretty interesting.  I'm also quite drawn to "Ten Step" workout sheets (though I almost never work-out), or those articles with multiple tips on everything from hair care to family relationships.
I'm not sure why this is, but I --like most humans-- love giving advice, too. Perhaps we all like to feel needed and wise... and I probably read that in an article somewhere about how to make people feel comfortable in conversation. It's also true that almost none of us actually like getting advice. I can think of multiple times when I sought guidance and ended up doing my own thing. It's a shameful thing to admit, but it's true.

As of about five or ten minutes ago, I've decided to avoid reading secular newspaper columns, Answerology, MSN's Lifestyle section, etc. Of course, this is insane.. right? I mean, the wealth of knowledge about "Getting a Better Outlook in Ten Days!" or "Making Yourself More Approachable" is rather tempting. When we aren't being egotistical and self-satisfied, we humans try to find ways to make ourselves even more "worthy" of our self-inflated self-image. Well, I'm all for improving myself, no question. (Around the same time I decided to stop reading "Dear Prudence" -She's not just a Beatles song, she's an award winning psychologist too!- I decided that I need to get better with thank you cards.) I realized, however, that atheist academics are no place to be getting an attitude, body language, or career adjustment; even if I deem myself discerning enough to pick out--and throw out--the worldly influences in these articles, what reason do I have to be reading them in the first place? Nothing I glean from the twisted counsel on the web is worth the junk I could stumble across.

Now, if there is anything I have noticed about most of the advice on the web, it's that it pertains to romantic relationships. Whether it's a plaintive fourteen-year old on Yahoo Answers lamenting over a crush who has a girlfriend or a self-proclaimed pick-up artist posting advice for his challenged peers, people seem to flock to conflict and resolution of the love variety. What's more, and this is a huge reason why I think this sort of advice is so dangerous, such sources tend to focus on the individual getting the most out of a relationship--getting "what they want" without any sacrifice; it's all the same story over and over: A woman wishes her boyfriend would marry her so she can change him, a man whines that every girl he dates wants a commitment. There isn't a speck of biblical wisdom or Christ-like love in the whole caboodle. In a question of fidelity to one's spouse, one contributor stated "You have to choose what matters to you most"
What matters to you!? What about what's RIGHT!
Perhaps it's my lack of respect for the conventional, but I've had enough of this tripe.