the kiss hello revisited

it seems the brits are quite confused by the new array of greeting options with the wider acceptance of the kiss hello.

how i know i'm under the weather

i woke up yesterday thinking i had a migraine. i went back to sleep for a little bit and woke up again and realized, it wasn't a migraine, i was seriously stuffy. couldn't breathe, my sinuses hurt and i was running a low grade fever.

today no fever but still not feeling great. and i know i'm under the weather because only 4 foods sound good: toast w/butter; chicken noodle soup, mashed potatoes and mac 'n' cheese. i like these foods anytime, but they're the only things i want when i feel yucky.

if i wake up like this tomorrow, i'll call the doctor. no time to be sick--convention is next week.

but what are we teaching our boys?

marko has a great post here about dove campaign for beauty. i'm a big fan of this campaign. i've struggled with my self-image off and on my whole life. i believe in teaching girls they are beautiful just as they are. that they don't need to be skinnier, bustier, blonder, or more of anything but themselves.

the caveat is that girls want to be thought of as pretty. we want to be found attractive. so it's not just enough to change how women view beauty. we have to do more than teach girls that they are beautiful just as they are. we have to find a way to teach boys to see beauty in more shapes and forms than cover girl, super model packaging.

i think this can and should start in our youth ministries. for male leaders, do you pay equal attention to all the girls in your group? not just the bubbly, outgoing, popular girls? do your male students know that you find your wife beautiful? and what beyond her appearance makes her beautiful to you? are people's characters and inner qualities celebrated more than their appearance or athletic skill?

so, that's all. i just read marko's post this am and this is what started spinning in my head.

a few dating lessons

every so often, i get my nerve up and dive into the online dating pool. obviously, it hasn't been successful yet. but it has been a learning experience. here are a few things i've learned:

on photos:

1. glamour shots/commercial headshots shouldn't be used. anyone with sense knows those have been retouched. and in most cases, that look is not what you'll be seeing when you meet up at the coffee shop.
2. if it looks like there's any possibility, the pic could show up in a mug shots book or be on a post office wall, don't use it.
3. please make sure your photo is from this decade. that also goes for your hairstyle.
4. if you're going to have an animal in the pic with you, it should be cute and alive. no dead fish, no dead deer, no insects of enormous size. and no pics of your dog (cute) with a dead bird in its mouth (yech!).
5. if you're going to post an action shot, please make sure it's your good side. and your back side or camera angles looking up from about the knee area are pretty much never your good side.

on interests:

everyone is interested in a) traveling; b) making more money c) doing something to make a difference in the world; d) meeting in a coffee shop for a first meeting. my advice on actually being interesting: a) go someplace. take a trip and stop waiting for the perfect traveling companion. b) skip the money talk in your profile. it's pretty safe assumption that no one wants to make less money and that everyone wants to make more. contentment with financial status would be something interesting. c) actually be doing something to make a difference in the world. what are you waiting for? volunteer now...don't wait for your life partner to get started. d)come up with something, anything besides a coffee shop for a first meeting.

and finally, on emotional baggage:

i think there should be some way devised to weigh a person's emotional baggage. seriously. as in if your past isn't really in your past, you should exceed the weight limit for emotional baggage. for example, if you've only been out of rehab for a month, and it was your second time through, this is not old news. or if you've been divorced for more than a year, and you still refer to your ex without the ex qualifier, well, this is not old news. in both of these cases, your emotional baggage has exceeded the acceptable weight limit to embark on a new relationship journey.

hope & hamstrings

yesterday was walktheirwalk. i blogged about the event here.

to everyone who sponsored me, prayed for and encouraged me--a huge THANK YOU! it meant the world to me.

in coming days, i'll post some additional thoughts. for the moment i'll just say it was a really great experience and it truly did help me recapture some hope. and my hamstrings and calves may never recover--they only hurt when i move them.

finally, it's not too late to give. oh, and here are some photos of the day that my friend renee took.