Tennis

I started watching tennis just about the same time I started dating Steven. His parents are tennis fanatics! I had no prior knowledge of the game and because I didn't know what the heck was going on, I really wasn't very interested. Since I spent quite a bit of time hanging out at Steven's house when we started dating in high school, and then on through college, I had no choice but to pick up a love & passion for this great sport.

Steven's parents so kindly taught me the rules of the game, history of the Grand Slams, playing surfaces, the great players of long ago, current phenomenons, schooled me on the vocabulary (game, set,match,0,15,40, duece, service, breaks, mini-break, fault, slice, drop shot, volley, ace, rally, lob, winner, errors...... *whew*), and encouraged me which players to love (Americans) and which ones to hate (Russians).

My increased love for tennis resulted a decision to take two semesters worth of tennis while in college, at Oakwood University. I got pretty good, and Steven's parents even bought me my own racket! We usually play together on vacation, we have soooo much fun! Now if only I could get Steven to play with me more often. I think I may just get a cute coach, polish my game, get some weekly eye candy and a little personal attention, oh yeah!

The US Open just started today. Venus Williams won her opening match!!!! I feel really sorry that Serena could not participate because of her hurt foot from that freak accident :( I'm rooting for Venus to go all the way, although she is experiencing knee problems, *crossing my fingers* and hoping for the best!

If you aren't a tennis fan, I encourage you to give it a chance. It's a game of tenacity, strength of will, endurance, precision, consistency, fitness, and extreme heart! The end of a tournament can only have one champion representing one country. It's an amazing experience to watch for the entire fortnight. You won't be disappointed :)

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Sunday

I have no idea what to blog about... but I have made a commitment to myself to blog everyday. Today is Sunday. Actually Sunday, night. The weekend is over. If I had a job..I would be dreading Monday morning, but nowadays I wish I was actually being productive in working toward my goals. But this blog is not a rant or a pity party!

You know what I enjoy most about Sunday? Catching up on watching random tv from my dvr, or watching Sunday quality movies on AMC or Lifetime. Sunday movies have a certain plot, age, and general quality. Its hard to explain..but if you have a tv, and you ever watch movies... you can easily see what I am talking about.

Whatever you do on Sunday, make sure you take time for yourself. Relax, eat good food, do something you enjoy, and get ready for a new week. Goodnight :) Monday is just around the corner.

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Im not a hater!

Summer time is for love and weddings, lots of them. If you know me, then you would also know that I am addicted to TLC, HGTV, and Food Network. These networks have a ton of airtime dedicated to wedding stuff! Cakes, dresses, and flowers. You name it, they have a show dedicated to (fill in the blank) for your wedding. So because I watch so much of these programs, I have a pretty good idea about whats hot and whats not. Outside of my impeccable innate sense of style and quality, I have high standards. I think everyone and anyone can be GREAT with any budget.

Facebook is a great place to scout wedding pictures of friends and friends of friends. Some people have GREAT weddings and some people missed the mark completely, in my opinion. I think I am a fair judge. Yes, I do have an opinion about everything its who I am! Did I mention I'm an over achiever? and a tad bit OCD? okok more than a tad bit.....

In my 25 years and 10 months on the earth, I realized that people with strong opinions may be classified as "Haters". Why hate? Because they stand out from the crowd and demand more out of life?? I don't know, I'll do some more research and get back with you.

I have dated the the love of my life for 9 years. Yes 9 years. Many people who find out this fact get a little antsy and start asking a bunch of questions. "When are ya'll going to get married?" , "What's taking so long?", "What are ya'll waiting on?". I'm sure many people probably look at me with sympathy because to them, I haven't been able to get my boyfriend of 9 years to commit, there must be something wrong with me, us, our relationship. All this speculation couldn't be further from the truth.

So back to the hating topic. A friend of a friend spontaneously got married recently, and I was talking to my friend about the goings on..... girl chit-chat. Out of the blue a person who shall not be named commented about how I was a hater, and implied that I was secretly wishing that I was married and was in the position of all these women who had recently gotten married over the summer. *Shocked* I didn't know how to react from being blindsided like that! Was my opinion of peoples weddings and my opinions about the life choices of people coming across as "hating"????? That was the last thing I want people to think about me!

Here is the God honest truth, for the record. I am happy with my relationship. I am happy that we have made the choice to not get married as of yet. What my boyfriend and I have decide to do, is working for US. I don't want to take the easy route and have a mediocre life, I want to be GREAT!

Could some of these couples have made better life decisions, in my opinion... some of them YES. But at the end of the day, they have to wake up in the morning and live with the consequences of their actions.. just like I do.

So, to settle things once and for all, I am not jealous, or a hater. I have a strong opinion, I'm sorry you are offended by my truthfulness. Please, don't project your insecurities on me. I'm not perfect, but I LOVE being me :)

Just like my blog tagline says... If you have a problem with me and what I do, take it personal. Ha! #thatisall

Open Door?

Last June I left/was fired/ran out of funding from my research laboratory. It was absolutely devastating! Although I reeeeaaaallly didn't get much research done during my time in the lab (another story), the idea of having to start over and having to find new advisor to finish my PhD work was one of the worst things that could have happened to my graduate student career.

Add in the pressure of supporting myself without my cushy stipend, friends and friends of friends asking "Are you done with school yet?", "How is school going?". Explaining to the average person what people in science do, and convincing Joe Blow that grad school, especially in the sciences, IS DIFFICULT and will generally take more than 4 years to complete. So if you add in a lack of research lab for a year, you can just extend your grad career for at least the time you missed :( Most people just don't get it.... *sigh*

I blogged last time that I was borderline depressed. Well, this is one of the reasons why. I have been in academic limbo, and for an overachiever with a master plan for my life, this set back was almost more than I could bear. My only hope is that God's master plan for my life is better than mine. A hard pill to swallow.

Did you know we are in a recession? Well, apparently the academic science community is suffering and taking a huge hit because they lack funding. You know what that means for the unemployed grad student looking for a lab? Yeah, that's right...its extra hard to find a professor who is willing to spend money on acquiring a new student via unconventional means. I have talked to so many professors who told me how much they would love to take me, but they don't have space or money. Gee, thanks for nothing! I have also had at least three professors tell me that they wouldn't be able to take me until the spring, and when the spring came around, they were unable to fulfill their original offer to take me. Door closed, in my face.... ARG!

At this point, I was thinking (am thinking), that maybe the Lord just brought me to grad school so I could get some experience, pick up a Masters, meet some people, expand my horizons. Maybe the PhD wasn't in my master plan? Maybe I was suppose to go go to med school... pharmacy school... law school... or maybe I'm suppose to teach and be a housewife, baking cookies and carpooling????? It just seemed like all the doors were closing and nothing was opening up for me??? What was I suppose to do next? Staying in College Station was getting more and more difficult to justify.

Well..... last week I got some information about a symposium where a bunch of professors who have funding and space were going to present research to recruit grad students. The symposium was focused on genetic grad students, but I went anyway to scout for a biochemistry project to tickle my fancy.

Today was the symposium. It started at 930am. I thought it would be an hour or a hour and a half max. The meeting lasted 3.5 hours! I haven't sat that long in long time :( There were some very interesting labs and some not so much. Now I need to create a short list of professors I'm interested in working with, and make contact with them quickly. They all desperately need grad students and they all have funding and space! Is this a door opening for me, finally?

Of course I have more questions. Do I want to work for a woman or a man? An old lab or new lab? Small lab or large lab? More postdocs/techs or more undergrads? The questions are endless, and my decision is very important! I can't afford another flop.

Im going to think & pray about it over the weekend and try to make something happen on Monday. If you are reading this, pray that the right door will open for me. Apparently, God is in control and he is constantly trying to teach me that He is in control, always. #fact

Self Imposed Filtered

So I have been leery to blog for quite some..well a very long time, because I didn't want my blog to be know as an angry rant. So I imposed this filter on myself and I ended up completely filtering all my thoughts that were probably blog worthy. I am going to make an effort to do better and blog more.

My life has been in a general sucky place (and yes, sucky is a word). I have been out of research lab for over a year, Ive been beyond broke, and my weight is semi-out of control. Don't get me wrong.. Im blessed with family, friends, a car, house, and food on my table. BUT, I think I have been borderline depressed. I know I put too much pressure on my self, similar to the blog filter, but I am an over achiever at heart, its in my DNA so to speak.

My new declaration is to blog more. I will blog all the randomness that flows through my brain... I can only be me, me and all my Ebonyisms :)

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Our Christian Duty?

This past week I have had a rather uncomfortable and rather negative encounter with a fellow Christian who is in authority at our local church. 

Without going into details, I have been reprimanded for watching Eddie Murphy, Raw, standup comedy routine. If you haven't seen it and you don't know what its about click here for a mini summary. The content is very Adult content with crude language.  The problems they had with my choice of entertainment is listed here with the scripture to back up their points:

 1) Behavior consistent with someone in a relationship with Jesus Christ - Due to the cursing and sexual innuendos.

Scripture:  James 3:11 “Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring?” 

EGW/ Others: By beholding we become changed - (from various complilations- Christian Cliche) 

 2) Content is not Pure and Lovely

Scripture: Phillipians 4:8 - "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

 3) A person enjoying this entertainment fails the faith test

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 13:5 -   Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith. 

 The person felt they were justified in judgment and reprimand justified based on the following Scriptual Charge:

 Ezekiel 33:6 

But if the watchman sees the enemy coming and doesn’t sound the alarm to warn the people, he is responsible for their captivity. They will die in their sins, but I will hold the watchman responsible for their deaths.’

 Matthew 18:15-17

Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

 

The questions I have are:

 1) What obligation do we have to our felow Christians? 

2) When is a Christian gone to far in relaying thier personal beliefs to someone they feel is doing wrong? Are they ever justified? WHERE IS THAT LINE?!? 

3) Is cursing a sin? or being crude sinful?

I’m not really sure how I feel about Christians pointing out other Christian's perceived sins? I’m personally don't see a situation where I would tell someone what I thought about their "sins" unless they asked me my opinion, or if we were very close and taking such liberties would not be attributed to nosiness. One exception to my listed theory is if the "sin" was putting their life or someone else’s life in immediate danger. And I definitely don't want to violate the Biblical warning by Jesus regarding judging others: 

 Matthew 7:1-5 Judging Others

 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ³"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye.

 For the last point, I don't believe cursing or being crude is a sin (nor do I believe in the so-called stumbling block theory or its subsequent dangers). I think there are things that we do that our society has deemed socially acceptable or not, this does not automatically constitute those things that are not socially acceptable sin. This is just not logical. On the other hand we as Christians should be working to adopt a Christ like behavior... so I don't know how all this works out. 

I would love to hear your thoughts!