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ananda12_2
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Name: Jocelyn
Gender: Female
Interests: ...poetry... real music... celtic anything... Christian artists who are not just "Christian," but actually artists, like Sandra McCracken, Derek Webb, Andrew Peterson, Michael Card, and Rich Mullins... history... "big picture"... pictures, especially b/w... daisies... wide-eyed radicals who live and die daily for Jesus... drama... John Piper... Tim Keller... JRR Tolkien and Real Fairy Tales... CS Lewis... Madeleine L'Engle... poems about fall... picnics... walks outside... Messiah Sing-alongs... babies... mangos... peanut butter... kettle corn... Bleinheim's Ginger Ale... good penmanship, even in guys... new cultures... Jim Elliott & JR Mott... peanut M&Ms... my dad's homemade hot chocolate and my mom's apple cider... black chocolate...my Tias... people who sing for the joy of their heart... fires... Elves... Eowyn... movie soundtracks... camping... Marva J Dawn... John Donne... my little sisters... my Family... swing-dancing... the CUTEST BABY IN THE WORLD, Hannah!! ... middle east
Expertise: hmmm... thinking of myself as way stronger than I think I am... getting bitter... injuring myself constantly... lol...
teaching, writing, telling stories, analyzing movies (I like movies and songs and books that make you THINK!) cooking without a recipie, quotes, photography, scrapbooking, "making do," talking...
Occupation: Student
Industry: Art
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
1/27/2004
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| Hey friends 
Some of you may have wondered where I went... see, the Louisville
HotSpot connection, which Ashlea and I get for free if we lean
precariously out the wondow far enough. Ok, it's not that bad, but
almost. Anyway, it blocks xanga. Which is sad, because
Ashlea just introduced me to the Immanuel Baptist Church xanga
blogring.
I have a blogspot webpage, which I've begun to actually treat as my
blog instead of just a way to post on other people's sites. I've
sent out another email with the new link to everyone I know who might
possibly care, and it's on my facebook profile. If you want the
link, and didn't get it through one of the above-mentioned ways, email
me and I'll give it to you. I was thinking about it, and it might
be better not to link the two sites, just in case...I've known some
weirdos in my life, lol.
Ok. Gotta go check on sweet potatoes. Look up the new
blog! Many pictures and non-insightful musings posted! hehhehe
--"Joce"
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| I'm sitting upstairs at the grandiose Louisville Free Public Library--
be it hereby known that the first bit of "official" buisiness I've done
since moving here has been to get a library card! (now what does THAT
say about me?) I was having trouble connecting on the WiFi, so I
asked the guy next to me, with the same Powerbook as my 12" little
Tosha. We struck up a convo, and now I've gotten online (as you
can see). As soon as we got upstairs, another guy working on a
Mac came over to consult us about web connetions (he definitely looks
like a college professor...sort of like Dr. Walter with longer hair--
Macs definitely seem to be a college trend). We Mac users feel a
kinship with one another unavailable to those manhandling massive
"laptops" known as PCs. It's a nice comraderie... while PC users
may be able to bond by helping one another through difficult times
(such as their computers freezing for the upteenth time...that lovely
little hourglass, ahhh the memories) shared frustrations are
hardly pleasant...
Ok. I'll stop with the knocking.
Oh, I also thought it was funny that the guy behind the desk in the
children's section used the suffix "-age" as is so in vogue on my own
college campus. I thought it was a Furman thing, but he
definitely reccomended "looking for the signage" when I inquired about
WiFi in the library. It made me hide a smile. Maybe he's a
Furman alum...
Last night I had my first solo excursion; I went (on BIG interstates in
TRAFFIC!!) to help celebrate Blaine White's birthday at Dave & Sina
Shuey's house. It was definitely the furthest I've ever driven to
a birthday party! (Blaine's a deacon at my church back in Greenville,
Grace Baptist) It was great fun-- the Whites have 3 amazing
girls, and 1 fun little guy, Noah (aka Spiderman. Dad, I overheard him
telling John Shuey that you are the Real Green Goblin). Wendy's
one of my favorite people (if I can be as cool as her when I'm a mom,
I'll consider myself highly sanctified!), and Blaine is an inspiring
dad...just an all-around great family. We played spoons, jumped
on the trampoline, I threw the girls over my shoulder over and over
(for some reason, they love that), and then after dinner Sarah (the
oldest of the White progeny-- 15 in 34 days) and I washed dishes,
talked and then played Spit!
The only downside was the fact that they served steak-- which was
DELICIOUS-- but was harder to chew than I'd anticipated...my mouth was
more sore than it has been since my teeth got cut out!
Ouch! I was completely wiped out after like 10 minutes on the
trampoline-- my heart races with the least exertion since I got on
those pain-killers. I hope FERVENTLY it isn't permanant!
This morning I woke up at the crack of dawn, so hopped on my bike,
slipping a gluten-free breakfast bar into my jacket pocket, and headed
downtown. I thought I'd just ride down 4th Street as far as I
felt like it. It was such a wonderful ride! God has
ordained where I'm staying, that much is clear! I needed to do 2
things pressingly: buy stamps/ mail a letter to my sister Anna so it
will get to her while she's still at Girls State, and get to my bank,
BB&T.
I set off to find a post office and to find out if there was even a
bank around! It was only about 6:30 am, but the streets were
already coming alive, especially the coffee shops. The only
places open besides Starbucks and Java were the hotels, and I made
friends with 2 of the valets. One, Thomas (at the Brown Hotel),
watched my bike for me while I went upstairs to buy stamps from the
front desk (I'd stopped to ask about where a post office was.
Turns out it's real closeby, too). He chuckled at me, up so early
and surely looking like the North Wind, with a kick-standless old boy's
bike asking about postage stamps as if it were the most normal thing
in the world. Anyway, I ended up mailing the letter from the
hotel, too. It was my one-stop convenience store. 
I continued down Fourth, passing 2 Starbucks, the Library, a Java,
Borders (like Books A Million or Barnes & Noble), a local coffee
shop, and the Louisville Conference Center. At the Hilton, I
asked a second friendly valet if he knew where a BB&T was (I know,
at this rate, I'll be on a first-name basis with half the early morning
crew downtown). Instead
he ran inside and looked it up for me in the phone book. Take a
wild guess... it's on Fourth Street, too! The only one in
downtown, and it's practically on my street! God put more kind
people in my path there; 2 early-morning janitors there, who lent me a
pen. I think they were just surprised to see someone smiling that
early in the morning, sans café.
All the above-mentioned franchises except the library are places I
intend to apply... I just couldn't then because it was before 9
o'clock, lol. But I feel like I'm well on my way to exploring
downtown Louisville. I really like the city-- the only negative aspect
at all is the lack of bicycle racks on the streets. I guess I've
never thought about them before, not riding my bike downtown in G'ville
much-- except I remember that Oxford had heaps of them... I'll
definitely need to pick up a lock and helmet (for longer excursions) at
Walmart, since I neglected to bring BOTH those items *sigh*.
After I got back, I had SO much day left! It was amazing!
Cereal with John Piper, recording kids songs for a backyard Bible club
in Scotland (our church has missionaries there and they're using our
curriculum, but didn't know the songs)-- I played my new guitar for the
first time in ages, then branched out and mixed in some djembe and
fiddled around with double tracks and equalizer settings before I made
them into mp3s and sent them on their merry way (are you impressed,
Kyle?)-- some Harry Potter over lunch... After all that, I figured it
was about 3, but I looked at the clock and it was only 12:45!
This is why I love being a morning person. I walked into town
this time round, for excersise, and because I wasn't sure what I'd do
with the bike while I did email and things.
All right. I've been in this library long enough. I'm gonna head
to a coffee house now and write for a good long while. If this is
going to be my honeymoon, I need time with my Husband!
Ahoy for now, mateys-- I'll be off!
--Christina "Joce"
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| 
St. James Ct.: the "street" where I live. Notice the
fountain! ...I think "Boulevard" or "Avenue" would be more
appropriate! My roommate tells me they use the middle of the
street for weddings often!
#1463. Ain't it great? The windows visible on the second
story are ours. The picture windows are in our living/dining
room, and the two windows on the right are right along my bed.
The front entrance of the library. It's only about 7 blocks from
my apartment. As I will elucidate later, everything is on 4th
street!
The Shueys (this was taken in March, but they and their couch look about the same  ):
Below is my mass email/Update #1:
Greetings from Historic Downtown Louisville, KY!!
My new roommate (and newly-discovered kindred-spirit), Ashlea Davenport
and I are sitting in the "Old Louisville Coffeehouse" using their
wi-fi, about a block from our apartment. I like this shop already; it
has a sign on the door that says "Keep Louisville Weird-- support
independant local businesses." *grin* For the past 2 or three months,
people have been asking me what I'd be doing for the summer, and I
wasn't ever sure quite what to say. Lately, though, inspired by my
dad, and in the spirit of Peter Pan, I've taken to saying "going on an
adventure!" And that it has been!
Following 5 days of recovery after my wisdom teeth extraction, my
family + Jonathan Suit (this is why it's good to have guy friends who
are philosophy majors...aka they don't have anything to do *wink*)
packed up my little Mazda (good ol' Max) and a rental car, and drove
the 6 1/2 hours to Louisville, KY. It took us a lot longer, though,
because we stopped in Nashville to have lunch with my dad's little
sister, Robin, her husband Duncan, with their 2 adorable kids (Caroline
reminds me so much of myself, and she remembered me from last
Thanksgiving!). She says "refrigeradator" and "mandatory" it;s so cute.
They're only 2.5 hours away; I'll probably spend a weekend with them at
some point. But besides the break for lunch, we drove around the
boonies of golf-resort-just-outside-Nashville-ia when Dad decided he
didn't believe his GPS... we took quite a "detour." However, *I* was
the one in the non-air-conditioned car!
My roomate Ashlea is great, and I love my apartment. I meant to upload
pictures but stupidly left the cable back in the apartment (we're at
the "Old Louisville Coffeeshop" a block down the street. It's in a
renovated victorian home, on St. James Ct., one of the most manicured
tree-lined avenues in Historic Louisville. I'm a mile from 4th Street
Live, and literally a block over from Central Park...really in the
heart of the downtown area!! My new roommate is a real kindred
spirit-- my first view of the living room which she has SOOOO
wonderfully decorated was "The Valley of Vision" on an end table, the
entire "Anne of Green Gables" series on one bookshelf, and all
Tolkien's works on the mantle (which, for those of you who don't know,
are all in my Top 10 list)! I'm so thankful. As we carried in crates
of stuff from the cars, I remarked that it was mostly tea-- and she
answered "Oh, I love tea too!" We
have a whole SHELF of the stuff in our tiny but well-equipped kitchen.
And she asked me if I was a morning or night person, and I answered
"definitely morning..." and watched to see if that was a good thing or
a bad thing-- and her face lit up and she said "oh, that's happy! so
am I!!" So that is one answered prayer right there.
Job prospects are overwhelming...should I work full time? Two
part-time? Over on Shelbyville Rd-- like Pleasantburg or Haywood? 20
minutes across town, by interstate, but more suburbia, and
thus...bigger stores= more employment chances (and that's where Whole
Foods is, Starbucks, and World Market-- all of which are hiring). Or
should I be aiming more for places I can ride my bike to around here?
Ah!! It's a grand adventure!
I read a verse last night that God really used to grab my heart-- "Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, do I lift up my soul." (Ps. 86:4) That's my prayer
for this summer-- this "Honeymoon Summer" as I think of it (the
honeymoon couple being me and Jesus)-- that God would gladden
my heart in Him again. I've been so distant from Him these past
few months...the "creeping separateness" that Vanauken describes (A Severe Mercy)
that arises from not spending deep time with each other... It struck me
that praying or saying "Lord willing" doesn't flow naturally now.
It shocked me, but I realized I felt like a hypocrite when I did those
things-- that is not good! It isn't God who has moved,
obviously. I was praying this morning "Lord, be with me
today..." when it struck me that that isn't really the issue, is
it? He ALWAYS is with me. Jesus' resurrection guaranteed
that! The Spirit led me to change it to "Lord, draw me to walk with You today." He's there-- it's me that pulls away. I covet your prayers and can't wait to share!
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| lots to write, but not tonight (hey that rhymed)
killing myself tomorrow with auditions and volunteering (at Washington
Center) and shopping and a lingerie shower and then 6 hours of
work. then waking up and putting in another 7 hours. *sigh*
do you ever feel like you're putting in so much so many places that
nothing actually matters? it's like...if you try and sink your
anchors in everywhere, you're stretched too thin and anchored
nowhere.
so thin that the wind would blow you away...
so spread that no one would notice anyway? (hey that rhymed, too)
but you know what I hate even more than that?? when people whom I
know well, who have done things to harm Christ and His church,
especially my own, and especially my two sisters, whom I love more than
anyone in this world... those individuals who shamelessly plaster
"jesus-lover" all over their myspace and xanga and facebook...with all
these spineless "hey girl, I love you girl!"'s... and I know the
ripping anguish they've brought, and there they are, "fresh-faced and
innocent," and it just leaves me to wonder... what are we doing?
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