Ah, the smell of eBay in the morning!

During some online exploring I discovered that one of my 12 feedbacks (I'm such a NEWB as my brother would say) is neutral. Neutral? Whoa, what did I do? I wasn't that bothered because apparently said neutral was not enough to affect my rating of 100%. This is why I never noticed it.

So anywho, I curiously went to check out this feedback and see what a bad girl I'd been. :) It read:
"Right back at ya! I ship as quick as I can, sure didn't deserve a neutral!"

Ah, so this is from someone I left a neutral for. I am quite stingy with my neutrals, by the way. Especially now since any negative feedback could utterly ruin my eBay career, no? This is what my feedback said:
"Took over a week to ship, but item is just as described."

Oh yes. This is the item that took almost two weeks to reach me. I noticed other feedback on this woman's page mentioned slow shipping, but these users were content enough to at least leave a positive. So then I got to thinking about whether my patience was really the issue, or if her neutral was merited. What do you guys think?

I, for one, am not sorry I left her a neutral. Her eye-for-an-eye attitude certainly didn't change mine. (Ah, I get a neutral because I left you one. How very mature, madam.) Is it just me, or does the eBay population include quite a few high-school-level drama lovers?

Rejoice, Rejoice

Woohoo!! Today was the glorious last day of the semester; a day of such significance, I felt that the consumption of many cookies was only appropriate. I even managed to scrounge up enough determination to do a lesson of algebra - my new Christmas break hobby. The cookies will help me make it through.

Dreadfully So

Yes, folks, I have totally lost the will to study. Thankfully, only one of my finals really matters. But this final is tomorrow, so mayhaps I should practice some self-dictatorship? Time to awaken my inner Castro.

A few shout-outs:
Happy 17th Birthday to my li'l sissa, Siara!
Congratulations to Bethany on her new job (bring in the mooooolah).
And many thanks to Liz Jordan, who played a huge role in making last night special.

(Last night was the Point of Grace Winter Wonderland concert. I thought last year was amazing, but somehow they made it even better.)

I'm job-hunting this week, so prayers are appreciated. Our God is faithful. :) Canna gettuh amen?

You can neeever escaaape

Spanish Version
Hace una semana que tengo agujeros en mis oídos, y nada mal todavía. Me duele un poquito uno de mis oídos cuándo muevo el pendiente. Probablemente va a caerse o algo.

Ayer, di una presentación oral en Español (completo con PowerPoint). Pasé todo el día antes memorizando el discurso de 6 minutos, porque no podemos leer de nuestras notas. Bueno, pienso que el discurso fue bien, pero hablaba muy rápida... así la clase probablemente no entendió mucho.

English Version
I've made it through a week of having holes in my ears - so far so good. One of my ears hurts a little when I move the earring. It's probably about to fall off or something.

Yesterday I gave an oral presentation in Spanish (complete with PowerPoint). I spent the previous day, in its entirety, memorizing the 6-minute speech because we weren't supposed to read from our notes. So I think I did well, I just talked really fast... so the class probably didn't catch half of it.

Stuff I'm Not Going to Translate into Spanish
Somehow I came across these articles today and found them fascinating. (Yes, now I want to be an astronaut.)

NASA telescope sees black hole gulping remote star
Space cuisine: beyond freeze-dried ice cream
24 Hours of Chaos: The Day the Moon Was Made

The little bit of His creation that God allows us to see (and possibly understand) is incredible. What I find sad is that these articles so readily deny His existence. Notice how in that last one, the latest developments which finally seem to show "that the Moon could have formed when a Mars-sized object hit a fully formed Earth" are "comforting." Comforting? They make you comfortable, because now there's not that possibility of a God who formed everything, right? Because now your science explains everything, and you don't have to worry about some Higher Being watching you?

I admire Jenn (and this Jen too) a lot for the Spiritual analogies she comes up with. But now I feel one coming on. ;) Let's be stars that dare to travel too close to the black hole of God's overwhelming love. Often we give Him just pieces of our lives, but with each piece that is no longer ours but becomes part of Him, we get closer to perfection. He consumes us, and He is irresistible. And one day He will have our whole lives - but in the meantime, we'll keep drawing others to Christ through His overwhelming love.

Ok, I totally want to know what it's like to get eaten by a black hole now.

Blech.

Yesterday we had adventures in weather! Yes yes. I left the house at 7:15am, in flip flops 'cause it was warm and muggy... 70-something degrees. The sky turns cloudy and a yucko color while I'm on the road. I'm almost at school when my windows start fogging up. By the time I park and get out of my car (7:45am), it's wet, very windy, and the temperature has dropped 30 degrees! The temperature was 37 for the rest of the day. Good gravy, it was nasty. And I knew it was coming, mom. I just like flip-flops.

Also, I had the pleasure of seeing Aaron Shust in concert a year ago, and he did a great job leading worship. Wonderful guy. But am I the only one who thinks the placement on this shirt is horrible?