I was just at Blockbuster dropping off LOTR 3 when I saw the latest Rolling Stone cover, and I realized that I have an announcement to make:
Rolling Stone and MTV and all other like entertainment providers, I am SO over you. You're like my ex-boyfriend who, after we broke up, manipulated me into thinking that continuing an affair would satisfy me or bring me commitment. The entertainment you value is unoriginal, overtly and almost constantly sexual, and more like sloppy 22nds than anything satisfying. You are overused and old, and recycle just about everything several times before you declare it 'uncool,' only to resurrect it two years later. You plant an unattainable goal of what you call "beauty" in all of your audiences souls, and provide nothing to abate it. I hate your not-so-subtle political over/undertones (always far left) and 'greater than thou' attitude. I am on a mission to get all of my friends who are still messing around with you cause it seems like it will be fun to wake up and just end the relationship. Your entertainment is driven by lust, and lust NEVER satisfies. You fuel stereotypes and our idolatry of actors and musicians and even athletes. You make me sick and before I cut off my ties with you, I had to experience days of apathy and sickness after viewing your entertainment to help me see that you fed me poison. You are disgusting and I pray that more and more people in America realize that you are part of the real-life matrix in this world.

So...I just saw baby Dana Marie the last two days, Glen and Paula's new addition to the Davis family. Man, is she cute. And man, did I get some good pictures, especially the ones I took this morning of Glen talking all sophisticated-like, as he does, about very interesting things, as always, while holding her in front of him, looking like a little baby-faced contributor to the conversation. Very cute. It was just too short. Always too short. But maybe someday, it won't be too short of a time with them. They are so dear to me and have been such a huge influence on me throughout my Christian walk, teaching me all of the most important lessons in one's life as a Christian. They are awesome, and I hope that someday I am rich just so I can give them and Joe and Jayne tons of money for their ministries. That'd be cool. Otherwise, I will just be poor cause I will be in ministry myself. He he. But not poor in spirit! Or maybe, I will want to be, cause the poor in spirit will be blessed, and hey! that's kinda fun to be blessed.

So the story is I went to Lake Tahoe to meet up with Glen and Paula and some other campus ministers and Chi Alpha heads, just a few, to hang out and relax and talk. We stayed at a very nice lodge sorta place, right on the lake, and I finished Lord of the Rings for the third time yesterday sitting by the lake's crystal clear waters. Yeah, I cried again at the end. I'm a sap. I am becoming more and more into it as I go. One of the things I feel strongest about, though, is that I want to start painting and drawing scenes from the books one of these days. Like, take my time and make something awesome that I read about in the books. I want to begin with a thorough map of Middle-Earth, that I can make really big so that when I read it again (and again) I can just look up and see where it is, instead of fishing around through the small (but still wonderful) multiple maps in the back of the book. That would be great. Okay, well, now I am going to finish watching the Return of the King, which I rented on Sunday.

p.s. the kingdom of Heaven is awesome!!!