Of Guitars and Heroes…

Wow! What a weekend! What a week, for that matter.

It was New Noel this past Saturday. For those that don’t know already, new noel is Community Worship’s Christmas service. This year, as Interim Worship Leader, it was my responsibility to plan.

I hope those that know me well are at least smiling by this point, as that sinks in. I actually had a ton of ideas for the service—it was the pulling everything off that I was worried about. But pull it off we did—at the last minute, no less—and the evening went rather well. At least, people told me they really enjoyed it. I’m rather inclined to assume people were just being charitable, since they knew how hard I had worked…but I hope people really did enjoy it. Mostly, I hope that it was something unique and meaningful, and that it left them thinking about “God With Us.”

After that was all over, Sunday we had our 20somethings Christmas party. That was fun. It was a potluck (or “providence plate” as some are fond of calling it). We did an ornament gift exchange (most of them were home-made, and some were very cool).

After a little while, the guys (that includes my brother Kyle) pulled out the playstation. This is normally the point in the afternoon where I say “sayonara” and go hang with the girls. But…the game they pulled out was Guitar Hero. I had only played it once, very badly, and when I first heard of it I thought it was rather stupid. I play guitar. Why do I need to pretend on a video game?

But…I play guitar. I love guitars. Guitars used to be an obsession with me. I once had a pair of fingernail clippers shaped like a guitar (a souvenir from my Branson days). And the guys looked like they were having fun. So…I hung out a while longer. Some of the other girls came over (you need to understand that the rest of these said ‘girls’ are all married, and their husbands were several of the guys now clustered around the TV).

My friend Katie admitted that she had played a few times at home with her husband Josh and enjoyed it. So we decided to give it a try. I should also add that normally at this point, it is hard to get guys to give the girls a turn, but this was not the case. We were cheered on and encouraged; the guitar-controllers were joyfully handed over to us.

I did awful, as you might expect. Just as I was feeling like an idiot, my friend James commented to the rest of the group, “At least Jessica can take comfort in the fact that she can actually play the guitar. The rest of us can only play on that thing.” It made me feel loads better. (Thanks, James!) —By the way, James was undoubtedly THE Guitar Hero. He blew everybody else away. He and Kyle even played the “Trogdor” song on GH2, which is crazy hard (but so hilarious!!)

Yes, I can play the guitar (I prefer acoustic), but I can’t do any of the fancy finger work that makes for a good rock song. So it is kind of fun to pretend for a second that I could be a rock star. I think it’s that kind of fantasy fulfillment that makes the game so popular. I’m gonna have to keep practicing so that when our New Year’s Eve-Eve party rolls around, I won’t feel ashamed of my virtual instrumentation.

On that note (ha! bah-dum-ching!) I’ll leave you with this famous rocker quote:

“Be excellent to each other…

…and, PARTY ON, DUDES!”

Thank you! Goodnight! I’ll be here all week!

Holding out for a...

Well, Dear Readers, it's time you knew the truth about me. So I'm going to come clean.

I

am

a Geek.

It's true. According to the McGill definition, geekiness is generally described not by level of intellect or how much studying you do. Instead it is defined by the level of your obsession and passion for something. Thus, geekiness extends to many areas of study (i.e., movie geek, sports geek, video game geek, underwater basket weaving geek, etc.). Characteristics include (but are not limited to): frantic shrieking and/or hyperventilating when the object of your geekdom is mentioned, ridiculously belabored conversations regarding the geek-worthiness of the particular subject, and large amounts of trivia, factoids, lines and lyrics being stored in your memory for handy dispensing on the uneducated, un-geekified masses. [Correction: the consise McGill definition of a geek is: "unhealthily obsessed." Also, please Nerds, do not take offense; I count myself among you, too.  {Nerdfighters, too.}]

Now, there are many areas I would admit to geekdom (and many you could probably guess without straining a single brain cell), but I'm here today to discuss one in particular: Superheroes. The truth is, I had no idea how geeky I was when it comes to comic book heroes. By no means am I nerdy enough to be an expert (geekiness doesn't require you to know things like the first ever appearance of Spider-Man was in what comic book released on what date, or who the original inker for the Fantastic Four was--though it often helps). When I went to see X:III with a group of people my age, I was surprised at how few others were outraged by some of the movie's blatant character redirection (don't even get me started, unless you want to see geek-fury). And certainly, if I may be slightly sexist for a moment, none of the girls seemed all that interested in the heated discussion that followed. Nope. Just me. Is it odd that I am into comic books? You would think not, in this day and age; but I still am a bit of a rarity. Truthfully, I'm about as geeky about superheroes as I can be without surrendering my second X chromosome. (And if you're curious as to why more girls don't read comic books, pick one up some time. You'll find less cleavage in a Victoria's Secret catalogue. Seriously. Don't ask me why—you already know the answer. I just wish they could understand how unrealistic that is...and how unappealing to a lot of females.)

I grew up being fascinated by heroes—any old swashbuckler would do in a pinch, but it was those masked men who really caught my interest. The intrigue of the double identity drew me in, as well as the daring rescues and commitment to helping those in need. I used to love to watch the old black and white Zorro show on Disney. And when I was a little older, I watched cartoons every Saturday morning—Batman, X-Men, and Spider-Man. I loved them. Now that I'm a lot older, I still find myself drawn to the caped crusaders. And not just in a hero-worship-fantasy kind of way. I recently read a fantastic book called "Superheroes and Philosophy" which discussed a lot of the philosophical, theological, and moral motivations behind what superheroes do.

In case you're wondering, yes, I do know that superheroes don't really exist. But it's fun to think about what it would be like if they did. (I've even written a story about it.)I've been watching the Sci-fi show "Who Wants to be a Superhero?" hosted by Stan Lee, since it premiered a few weeks ago. I know, I know, it's reality, and generally I really hate reality TV. But this one at least has challenges that are interesting to me. I still don't totally like...well, any of the contestants left, really. With good reason, I think. If nothing else, this show has proven to me that most people are not cut out for a superhero's life. Can you take a guess why?

Most people think about how cool it would be to have superpowers—like being able to fly, or turn invisible, or blow up something just by staring at it. The truth is, it wouldn't be cool at all. (Okay, maybe a tiny bit.) But most of the time it would freak other people out, so you'd have to keep it to yourself. And then you'd have to decide: are you going to use your powers for others, or for you? That's the difference between a Superhero and a Supervillain. And if you stop to think about it, what's the fun, really, in always being at the beck and call of a helpless humanity? That's why the Spider-Man comics coined the famous phrase "With great power comes great responsibility." And all heroes seem to struggle with the weight of that responsibility—even though they want to do what is right. It's not easy to put everyone else first.

And that, I believe, is at the core of why I love superheroes so much. Not because of how cool they are. But because they represent a struggle that is central to another group of people—ones that actually do walk the earth among us: Christians. We, as followers of Christ, also wrestle with our responsibilities. And have been from the beginning. (Look it up.) We may want to do what is right, but so often our desire to help others, to reach out to the lost, gets swallowed up.

Superheroes aren’t just great role models for humanity; they’re great role models for Christians. (Okay, not all of them. The ones that top my list? Flawed as they are—Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and The Thing.) They show us what it’s like to serve others constantly, and to struggle between being others-centered or self-centered. There are lots of reasons to love superheroes: this is just one of my favorites.

Oh, Shoot. I Should Blog.

Wow. Yes, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, shame on me. What on earth have I been doing?

Well, since you asked:

• re-watching season one of LOST
• emptying baby bottles full of money at the Pregnancy Care Centers
• working on my third revision of “The Jagged Edge of Lightning”
• leading worship (sometimes singing by myself, gulp!) at Community Worship
• working on making a quiz about LOST
• watching movies, both at home and in theaters
• admiring my tattoo

Yep. I’ve been busy.

I have seen a couple of good movies lately—Walk the Line was pretty good, though hard to watch at some points because he just wrecks his life for a while. Still—Joaquin and Reese did great jobs, both singing and acting. The Lake House was very good. I love Sandra Bullock, and I hope I don’t jinx anything by saying she’s one of the few actresses I unabashedly admire. (Now watch, she’s going to be saying in her next interview that she’s joined Scientology with Tom Cruise.) Well, anyway, the movie was good and I recommend it—if you like that kind of romantic movie type thing.

I’ve also been working on my DVD collection…I made a list of all the movies I own and all the ones I still want to get, and it was rather frightening. I already have close to a hundred movies. And the sad fact is, a vast majority of them are either romance-based or family fluff. However, that is not entirely my fault; in my house, my brother buys all the action/adventure/blow-em-up movies, so I don’t have to. Though I did buy Spider-man 2 and Batman Begins.

Speaking of superheroes, tonight we’re supposed to go see Superman Returns. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will be good. You know how lame DC can be…okay, that was mean. What I meant was, some of the earlier Superman movies were kind of cheesy. So, we’ll see. If it’s good, maybe I’ll dedicate my next post to it. Or maybe just to superheroes in general. You know I loves my heroes!

Steeler Nation

Well, tonight marks a milestone in my life: for the first time ever in my 26 years, I actually sat down and watched the Super Bowl—first to fourth quarter.

I am admittedly not the biggest football fan, despite my dad’s attempts at indoctrination. But here I am in Pittsburgh, where I have lived the last almost four years. I’ve lived all over the country, and I have never, ever lived anywhere that went so nuts for a football team. It’s quite infectious. Pittsburgh loves the Steelers. And it’s easy to see why: the guys—quite aside from their athletic prowess—are great guys.

I have said many times in my life that I can’t get into sports games, unless I have some kind of emotional connection to the players. Well, it finally happened in a national game, which I never thought it would. And usually, I go for the underdog. I also usually go against the tide. But…we really do have some great guys out here. I personally voted for Hines Ward for MVP on superbowl.com during the fourth quarter. And can you believe that Ben Roethlisberger is only 23???

I even donned black and gold for the occasion. You really can’t get by in Pittsburgh if you don’t; even in church this morning my mom said people were wearing jerseys. I’m telling you, it’s insane out here. Black and gold has been everywhere for the last two weeks, and every other marquis down the road had a “Go Steelers” or “one for the thumb” message. (Btw, in case you’re as uninformed as I am, that means because they won their fifth championship game, they got a fifth ring—for the thumb.)

Just one more thought: they always say that one of the best parts of the SuperBowl is the commercials. Of course there was the really fun "Addicted to Lost" commerial, but did anyone notice the MacGyver MasterCard commercial? I was like, *insert surprised noise here*? I had to rewatch it. Go, Mac! Still so cool. (But getting old. :( That was why I didn’t quite recognize him at first.) Thank you, MasterCard, for recognizing the greatness of a true TV hero.

And thank you, Steelers, for bringing home the trophy for all your fans. Pittsburgh is now officially Steeler Nation.

Talent

Your Hidden Talent

You are both very knowledgeable and creative. You tend to be full of new ideas and potential - big potential. Ideas like yours could change the world, if you build them. As long as you don't stop working on your dreams, you'll get there.

What's Your Hidden Talent?

So I watched "Sky High" tonight (I am a sucker for a good superhero story...like I am for a good spy story...or a good love story...or a good fairy tale...*ahem!*) and I thought I would post this. I took this quiz (I also have a thing for quizzes) a while back when I was wasting time on the internet. It was rather encouraging at the time, even though it sounds like it came out of a fortune cookie. Speaking of wasting time on the 'net, that is what I have already done too much of tonight. I've been dinking around on myspace--yes, I got a myspace. If you're interested, you can find it here, or in my links to the right. If you do, check out my "friends" for some familiar faces. :) Anyway, that's all for tonight, folks. 

Pursuit of the Ideal

L.M. Montgomery (famed author of the “Anne” series) once wrote a short story titled “The Pursuit of the Ideal,” and basically it was about a guy who tells his best girl friend all about his ideal woman (nearly her opposite in every way) but when he meets her, he realizes that it was his good friend who was his ideal all along. Montgomery also wrote a similar plot line with Anne, who aspired to love a dark, melancholy and poetic man, but found that in the end, she preferred Gilbert, who was not melancholy or very poetic, but laughed at her jokes and appreciated her.

The moral obviously is that what we think we want is not always what is best for us, and I think we can see that in almost any area of life.

But what, I wonder, if our ideal is someone who were are friends with, someone with whom we can laugh with, among other things? What if our ideals are things we actually know would be good for us?

In my blog on Singleness, I mentioned I’ve been single for a long time, and I briefly listed some things I’d (ideally) like in a guy. Having been single so long has a dual effect on me regarding these “ideals”: one is that I feel entitled to at least the majority of them; the other response I have is despair that I will ever find anyone who even remotely matches up.

If I were to list for you the things that I would like in a guy—The Guy—the length and elaborateness would stagger and astound you. It is the result of mentally calculating all the things I ever noticed and liked about guys I have known (whether real or *ahem!* fictional) and things I have observed in relationships. And…probably stuff from sappy chick flicks, too. I know. Shame on me for being out of touch with reality.

And some of the stuff—for example, being able to play the guitar, having an accent of some kind, driving a motorcycle—isn’t really important at all. It’s just fluff. Although…the guitar thing…….no, okay, really, I’m fine. I’m back to reality now. Not important.

Some things are only relatively important, like having the same taste in literature or music or movies. I don’t expect any guy (or anyone, for that matter) to like everything that I like. But at the very least I’d like to think he wouldn’t bash it, to my face, if he knows I love it. It’s okay to disagree on things, to have differing opinions, certainly. Everyone has different tastes. I’m pretty opinionated myself at times. Most times. But for example, tonight a guy was saying some harsh stuff about my favorite band ever. Ouch. Right after I said they were my favorite band ever. Really ouch. Not scoring any points there. Not that he was trying to. But you get the point.

I have decided, however, that a few things really are important to me. Like, non-negotiable. I know, you’re thinking, he has to be a Christian, right? Yes. Of course. That’s a given. But more than that, I want him to be a deep, strong Christian. A Ransomed Heart Christian. The kind of guy who’s read Wild at Heart by John Eldredge and has already gone on his journey with God to learn who he is as a man.

Why is that an Ideal? you may very well ask. Well, let me just say that Mr. Eldredge’s writings have been extremely meaningful and influential to me and my journey as a Christian, and as a woman. I will save further details for another blog at another time.

One thing I really liked about Wild at Heart (which I am currently re-reading) is that although the book was written primarily to give men permission to be men, in the process, it also gave me permission to be a woman. It told me that it was okay to want a strong guy who would fight for me. More than okay—it said it was good! No one had ever really said that before.

It’s a little embarrassing to admit in today’s culture of strong, feminist, “girl-power” women that I actually would like a guy to fight for me. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am capable of fighting for myself. But I don’t want to always have to. I like it when chicks kick butt (hello, Alias?  Princess Leia?) but I also tend to really love the heroes in the story.

Think with me now: William Wallace (Braveheart), Aragorn, Spider-Man, Han Solo…these are men who fight for what they believe in, they fight to free and help people. And they also fight for the woman they love. And deep down, I think every woman longs to truly be fought for—not necessarily in the physical sense, punches being thrown and all that, but to know that she is worth the risk. That’s not an Ideal, that’s a part of being a woman.

I know, this all sounds rather silly and perhaps a bit juvenile. The fancies of a girl who’s lost touch with reality. Knights in shining armor and all that…who needs it today? Who even really believes it’s possible? Well, I don’t know how possible or probable it is for me…but for right now, all I have is my Ideal. It’ll Have to Do, as Dean Martin sang, Until the Real Thing Comes Along.