Lightning bugs

Lightning bugs make me cry. Four years ago, as Kristen and I were at a training camp in southern Illinois before leaving for our prayer journey to Scotland, we found ourselves sitting in the grass next to a pasture at sunset, disclosing some of our most deeply rooted hopes and fears of the future. That night marked a new phase in our friendship: a transition from friends who enjoy one another's company to friends who trust, love, and need each other. And that night we delighted in lightning bugs. It was the end of May, so the fireflies should not have been that prevalent, but they were there all the same. And ever since then, summer nights and lightning bugs take me back to memories of time spent with Kristen, and I miss her painfully. My head keeps telling me that I am going to make so many new friends soon, but the other part of me jerks back like a little kid and exclaims, "I would rather just be with my old ones." And so it goes, life continues, and I will embrace the new friends in my life. I still miss my old ones though.

Media Coverage of Middle East Conflict

Much has been said of a society with 24-hour-cable news. Those of us with cable know more about what is going on in the world faster than ever before, and with images. Yet, at about midnight last night, as I was flipping through CNN, CNN Headline News, MSNBC, and FOX futilely trying to get information on the Israel/Lebanon conflict, all I got were repeated broadcasts of Anderson Cooper, Nancy Grace, Rita Cosby (I think - I had given up on MSNBC by then), and Brit Hume. Israel was bombing the airport in Beirut and Hezbollah was sending missiles back and no one was covering it. These cable news channels have swelling music scores and dramatic graphics to indicate breaking news, and they do announce breaking news often, yet when the news is huge but at an inconvenient time, there is nothing.

Now, I must say that CNN did interrupt Anderson's re-run for a little while and switched to the international broadcast and FOX did put a thick red bar announcing that the Beirut airport had been hit, but the attention given was sorely lacking compared to the magnitude of the situation. Also, I will admit, there was information available online and there was no practical need for me to know everything that was going on in the Middle East before I went to bed. Still, I was disappointed that when stark news came at a time when the celebrity anchors were at home, the priority of the networks was to show their perfectly taped graphics-laden, musical-score enhanced programs rather than cover a legitimate crisis in an explosive area of the world.

Ostentatious Rambling

My Google homepage quote of the day:

"An ostentatious man will rather relate a blunder or an absurdity he has committed, than be debarred from talking of his own dear person." - Joseph Addison

Well, perhaps blogging is, for many of us, a medium for us to satisfy our narcissism and ostentatious nature. I mean, we sit around and write about ourselves with the expectation that other people will actually read our thoughts which are, many times, about ourselves. Yet, I kind of like reading others' self-centered ramblings - especially the blunders and the absurdities.

My blunder today: I'm not visiting a new church because I can't find my wallet. My credit cards, my cash, my checkbook - I have no idea where they are, and I don't want to drive to West County without even my license. I think my wallet may be in an O'Fallon friend's car, but she hasn't called me back yet. The ironic thing is I just bought this wallet to replace my Eastern key chain wallet. It's a "big girl" wallet - long and with compartments as opposed to the little pocket sized photo id wallet I have used since college. I assumed it would be harder to lose, since it is bigger and all. Guess not.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do about church today. It's 10:30 now, and no wallet. Grrr...

No edification in this entry. Just ostentatious rambling. I can't find my wallet, and, by golly, I want the world to know about it.