Merry Christmas!

So this year, we had the privilege of going to Boston for Christmas to visit my sister. I'm still there, actually, and it's Christmas today. Anywho...It's been a good couple of days so far. So yeah...

Merry Christmas! Celebrating Christ's birth on the other coast.

Walden Pond 

A Myth Retold

Reading Till We Have Faces reminds me why I love C.S. Lewis as a writer. I've read Lion, Witch and Wardrobe, this one was a full on novel more for adults than children. Lewis retells the story of Cupid and Psyche from the perspective of Psyche's older sister Orual. Set in what feels like an ancient near eastern civilization called "Glome." One of the major themes of the book is beauty and ugliness paralleled with pure and profane love. According to myth Psyche as beauty that surpasses even the beauty of Venus (Cupid's mother). Though this was the main plotline in the original myth, it wasn't even addressed in the novel. Anyway, coming back to beauty and ugliness. Psyche is beautiful and Orual is ugly.

The novel follows Orual as she becomes queen of her own country, a queen that keeps her face veiled because of her ugliness, but by her actions and behavior legends arise telling of how she is veiled because she is so beautiful beyond what anyone can handle. So there is this struggle where Orual tries to reconcile herself to make up for her ugliness as well as her love for her sister Psyche.

I don't have a good segue to this next quote (granted English class is 4 years ago, but here is the title written into the story:

"When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last to utter the speech which has lain at the center of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you'll not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?"

Guppy's

So there's this Cerritos place called guppy's. It's tropical themed that serves xiao chi (little eats) like shaved ice, popcorn chicken, boba among other things. But the thing about guppy's is their shaved ice is GINORMOUS. Check it out.

 

So there's this thing called the guppy special. It comes with a small shaved ice (shown above), an order of popcorn chicken and an order of brick toast which is shown off to the side. Notice the strawberry, mango and redbean toppings. If you think the small is huge, check out the large. This split between four people after dinner resulted in "OH MY GOODNESS I'M SO FULL" and having to go #2 just to make room. Too graphic? But yeah. This place is pretty fun. Oh the guppy special comes out to about $17. Split among four people... we barely finished it all.

 

Notice the unfinished popcorn chicken that had to be taken home. But dude, this is ultimate bingeing food. And it's so good.

I'd go back again, shoot.

Comfort

Dude, check this out. $5 on sale at Old Navy. I'm going home to LA this weekend. We're gonna have good food, relax, go do Christmas stuff, hang out with friends. It's going to be an awesome, VERY comfortable weekend. :)

Thinking about comfort, I recently discovered how to make pork and preserved vegetable noodle soup. So good.

The simple comforts like warm slippers and warm noodle soup make me so happy. But I constantly think about that very Christianese saying "get out of your comfort zone." I think a lot about not being comfortable for the sake of my faith and wonder if I'd be willing to give that up, all the things that bring happiness shouldn't compare to the ultimate joy that comes from knowing God. I dunno, just thots.

I got to go to the circus!!!

Last Friday was my first taste under the grand chapiteau. Kooza, the new Cirque du Soleil show that came to San Francisco is so awesome. My favorite act? The wheel of death.
These guys are DANG impressive. The photo doesn't do justice to the crazy acrobatics that they did. It was pretty dang awesome.

and... KOOZA may be coming to a city near YOU! (ahem....boston, san jose...)

Unashamed

I have not much
To offer You
Not near what You deserve
But still I come
Because Your cross
Has placed in me my worth

Oh, Christ my King
Of sympathy
Whose wounds secure my peace
Your grace extends
To call me friend
Your mercy sets me free

And I know I'm weak
I know I'm unworthy
To call upon Your name
But because of grace
Because of Your mercy
I stand here unashamed

I can't explain
This kind of love
I'm humbled and amazed
That You'd come down
From heavens heights
And greet me face to face

Here I am at Your feet
In my brokenness complete

Starfield