Email from my mother the other day:
"Hey,
I remember what I wanted to tell you the other day. President Farnsworth, at ward conference the other day, came up with the solution for your feed a guy a fish thing. He said if you give a man a fish, he eats for a day, if you teach him how to fish, he eats for a lifetime,and if you teach him how to love to fish, he will feed the whole village. There you go, this was the missing link. Talk to you soon. Love, Mom"
there you go.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Saturday, July 25, 2009
There's a time to give and a time to teach
See, I don't really agree with the saying "If you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day; teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for life." Or rather, I don't agree with the conclusions drawn from this saying--that you shouldn't give people things, you should teach people things.
I mean, if you are giving a guy a fish every day, eventually he's going to turn around and ask you, "Hey man, where are you getting all the fish?" And then you teach him.
I mean, if you are giving a guy a fish every day, eventually he's going to turn around and ask you, "Hey man, where are you getting all the fish?" And then you teach him.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
i've never told anyone before
It's funny when someone says "I've never told this to anyone before," like it means something.
It doesn't, really. I mean, do you often have the same conversations over and over and over? I should think not. Usually, when you are talking to someone, you are saying whatever you are saying for the first time, even if you have discussed the topic previously, or if you have thought about it before. You are changing and evolving all the time, of course, and everything you say, you are usually saying it for the first time. Most things you tell people you have never told anyone before. That is what conversation is--saying new things based on other people's reactions and statements and the current situation. Most conversations that you will have, you have never had them before.
So it's not significant. Not at all. It doesn't mean anything when you are with someone, say on a date or having one of those 'special conversations', and you suddenly realize, or more likely, they suddenly say that they've "never told this to anyone before." of course you haven't, are you boring? are you one of those lame people who say the exact pre-fab statements and conversations to everyone? No. Probably not. It's not a significant conversation for it's uniqueness at all. Most of your conversations are unique.
So yes, "i've never said this to anyone before" is always, always a just a line, whether it's meant that way exactly or not--because you really could say that to any person, anytime, and it's meaningless in and of its self.
But it may be significant because the fact that you are registering that you've 'never said this to anyone,' or they haven't, this clearly shows that there is some kind of heightened conversational awareness going on. If the vast majority of the things you say, you have never said them before to anyone, and that hardly registers at all on your mental radar, when it does register that you are saying something new, something that you've never said before....well, the registering of this notion says more than the actual event.
Discuss.
It doesn't, really. I mean, do you often have the same conversations over and over and over? I should think not. Usually, when you are talking to someone, you are saying whatever you are saying for the first time, even if you have discussed the topic previously, or if you have thought about it before. You are changing and evolving all the time, of course, and everything you say, you are usually saying it for the first time. Most things you tell people you have never told anyone before. That is what conversation is--saying new things based on other people's reactions and statements and the current situation. Most conversations that you will have, you have never had them before.
So it's not significant. Not at all. It doesn't mean anything when you are with someone, say on a date or having one of those 'special conversations', and you suddenly realize, or more likely, they suddenly say that they've "never told this to anyone before." of course you haven't, are you boring? are you one of those lame people who say the exact pre-fab statements and conversations to everyone? No. Probably not. It's not a significant conversation for it's uniqueness at all. Most of your conversations are unique.
So yes, "i've never said this to anyone before" is always, always a just a line, whether it's meant that way exactly or not--because you really could say that to any person, anytime, and it's meaningless in and of its self.
But it may be significant because the fact that you are registering that you've 'never said this to anyone,' or they haven't, this clearly shows that there is some kind of heightened conversational awareness going on. If the vast majority of the things you say, you have never said them before to anyone, and that hardly registers at all on your mental radar, when it does register that you are saying something new, something that you've never said before....well, the registering of this notion says more than the actual event.
Discuss.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Behold
Yesterday, I got two missionary letters.
One was from the wonderful Sister Tori Ellefant Gardner, and the other was from dear Elder Matthew Wise.
The cool thing was that both of them separately referred to my letters as "a breath of fresh air." Yessir, both of them wrote that.
Know what that means? Out of the mouth of two witnesses and all that crap? It's true now, baby! It's part of the gospel!
Gini Lee--Breath of Fresh Air. I'm making business cards or something.
One was from the wonderful Sister Tori Ellefant Gardner, and the other was from dear Elder Matthew Wise.
The cool thing was that both of them separately referred to my letters as "a breath of fresh air." Yessir, both of them wrote that.
Know what that means? Out of the mouth of two witnesses and all that crap? It's true now, baby! It's part of the gospel!
Gini Lee--Breath of Fresh Air. I'm making business cards or something.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
the entry my mother is not supposed to read
before i left, did i tell you that i was going to be living in Manhattan?
i lied.
well, i didn't 'lie,' exactly. i just glossed over the truth.
i live in manhattan, sure. but it's not the manhattan you think of--times square and 5th ave and whatever--i live a couple blocks north of central park. That's right. I live in Harlem.
It wasn't a lie, really, because i didn't even know this before i moved here. i was just happy to be living in close proximity to everything, and didn't having never really even come here before, i couldn't tell you what exactly was the difference or distinction between living 'downtown' and 'uptown.' so, the fact that i live in a neighborhood that's notorious for it's ghetto-ness was just as much a surprise to me as it may be to you. or to my mother.
not to worry, though. i feel perfectly fine in harlem. given that my roommate has been out and out broke for the last four days, causing us to walk most everywhere we've gone together since she can't afford the subway, i've done a lot of walking in the area, not to mention my own forays to try and find things, like the gym (which was an eventual success) and to try and find this city arts volunteer outreach thing (which was a failure, though i decided that it's the fact that i attempted to volunteer that counts, and i still get the good karma for trying), which led to me walking around in slowly widening circles for 45 minutes or so. and it is pretty much harmless. or, harmless relative to other places i've live.
what's that? how can harlem be considered harmless relative to provo or stc? that's not what i'm talking about, my dear, you are forgetting the middle east. call me chicken or call me a helpless girl or whatever, but i didn't go walking around the cairo or amman or anywhere by myself--ever. nikki and i were attached at the hip all summer, and in jerusalem, the 3-in-a-group rule was punishable by death. and that's good, because the three, maybe four times i was all by myself, i could tell that it was a bad idea. i just...didn't feel right, at all. the way people watch you, the way the boys watch you. but you know what, i haven't gotten that vibe at all in harlem. i'm sure there are areas like that here, but i haven't hit them yet.
which leads us to the interesting topic of Amman vs. Harlem.
ways that Amman and Harlem are the same:
-there are about 5 million little crap supermarket-type stores that all sell the exact same thing, and mysteriously all are in business, though no one can really figure out how
-the check out girl still does not speak the same language that i do
-if you are trying to get somewhere in a hurry, you can guarantee that the subway/bus/micro/taxi/public transit will be late, broken, or impossible to find
ways that Amman and Harlem are different:
-my minority status. okay, so you may have think that this is actually a similarity, but you are wrong. in both cities, as a white girl i'm the minority, but the way that people treat you is completely different. in amman, you are oogled not just for being a girl but for being a white girl. you are by nature a curiosity. i'll just assume that that's because of the ethnicity difference coupled with foreigner status, and not just blame it on some form of racist thinking (the jury is still out on this). here in harlem, i am once again the minority, but instead of people poking each other and saying "oh, look at the white girl," people see you and it's like, "a white girl, so what?" even though i am definitely, definitely an obvious minority here. i like it. because it really is "so what?"
so, harlem sounds great, right? mom shouldn't even worry about me living here!
in fact, on top of harlem being totally fine, this place is chock full of mormons. young, single, poor mormons. my block especially--there's at about 8 or 9 apartments of mormons/with mormon residents in my building, plus a couple of apartments across the street. there was even an article about my building in byu magazine last fall (i totally didn't know this before i moved here, it's just luck or whatever. link: http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=2281 ).
except for, the other day when i was walking home from church with a group of the kids that live in my building, one of the guys re-enacted the at-gun-point robbing that happened to him last year about a block from where we live. and if you read the whole byu magazine article, it details other crimes muggings/robbings that have happened in the past to my new neighbors. and of course, there's just the fact that whatever i say to ease her peace-of-mind, the fact of the matter is, i'm living in harlem. whenever someone asks what my parents think about me living here, though, i realize that they just think i'm living "in manhattan," whatever that means. my mom probably conjures images of the same block that my railroad consultant grandfather lived on thirty-whatever years ago. no doubt he and o'ma and their country-club lifestyle were somewhere a little bit classier than harlem.
anyway, no worries! i know when an SUV pulls up to the side of the road and the people are like "hey sweetie come here" that is definitely what i should not do (this actually happened the other day)! so no worries, mom, i got this ghetto thing down.
i lied.
well, i didn't 'lie,' exactly. i just glossed over the truth.
i live in manhattan, sure. but it's not the manhattan you think of--times square and 5th ave and whatever--i live a couple blocks north of central park. That's right. I live in Harlem.
It wasn't a lie, really, because i didn't even know this before i moved here. i was just happy to be living in close proximity to everything, and didn't having never really even come here before, i couldn't tell you what exactly was the difference or distinction between living 'downtown' and 'uptown.' so, the fact that i live in a neighborhood that's notorious for it's ghetto-ness was just as much a surprise to me as it may be to you. or to my mother.
not to worry, though. i feel perfectly fine in harlem. given that my roommate has been out and out broke for the last four days, causing us to walk most everywhere we've gone together since she can't afford the subway, i've done a lot of walking in the area, not to mention my own forays to try and find things, like the gym (which was an eventual success) and to try and find this city arts volunteer outreach thing (which was a failure, though i decided that it's the fact that i attempted to volunteer that counts, and i still get the good karma for trying), which led to me walking around in slowly widening circles for 45 minutes or so. and it is pretty much harmless. or, harmless relative to other places i've live.
what's that? how can harlem be considered harmless relative to provo or stc? that's not what i'm talking about, my dear, you are forgetting the middle east. call me chicken or call me a helpless girl or whatever, but i didn't go walking around the cairo or amman or anywhere by myself--ever. nikki and i were attached at the hip all summer, and in jerusalem, the 3-in-a-group rule was punishable by death. and that's good, because the three, maybe four times i was all by myself, i could tell that it was a bad idea. i just...didn't feel right, at all. the way people watch you, the way the boys watch you. but you know what, i haven't gotten that vibe at all in harlem. i'm sure there are areas like that here, but i haven't hit them yet.
which leads us to the interesting topic of Amman vs. Harlem.
ways that Amman and Harlem are the same:
-there are about 5 million little crap supermarket-type stores that all sell the exact same thing, and mysteriously all are in business, though no one can really figure out how
-the check out girl still does not speak the same language that i do
-if you are trying to get somewhere in a hurry, you can guarantee that the subway/bus/micro/taxi/public transit will be late, broken, or impossible to find
ways that Amman and Harlem are different:
-my minority status. okay, so you may have think that this is actually a similarity, but you are wrong. in both cities, as a white girl i'm the minority, but the way that people treat you is completely different. in amman, you are oogled not just for being a girl but for being a white girl. you are by nature a curiosity. i'll just assume that that's because of the ethnicity difference coupled with foreigner status, and not just blame it on some form of racist thinking (the jury is still out on this). here in harlem, i am once again the minority, but instead of people poking each other and saying "oh, look at the white girl," people see you and it's like, "a white girl, so what?" even though i am definitely, definitely an obvious minority here. i like it. because it really is "so what?"
so, harlem sounds great, right? mom shouldn't even worry about me living here!
in fact, on top of harlem being totally fine, this place is chock full of mormons. young, single, poor mormons. my block especially--there's at about 8 or 9 apartments of mormons/with mormon residents in my building, plus a couple of apartments across the street. there was even an article about my building in byu magazine last fall (i totally didn't know this before i moved here, it's just luck or whatever. link: http://magazine.byu.edu/?act=view&a=2281 ).
except for, the other day when i was walking home from church with a group of the kids that live in my building, one of the guys re-enacted the at-gun-point robbing that happened to him last year about a block from where we live. and if you read the whole byu magazine article, it details other crimes muggings/robbings that have happened in the past to my new neighbors. and of course, there's just the fact that whatever i say to ease her peace-of-mind, the fact of the matter is, i'm living in harlem. whenever someone asks what my parents think about me living here, though, i realize that they just think i'm living "in manhattan," whatever that means. my mom probably conjures images of the same block that my railroad consultant grandfather lived on thirty-whatever years ago. no doubt he and o'ma and their country-club lifestyle were somewhere a little bit classier than harlem.
anyway, no worries! i know when an SUV pulls up to the side of the road and the people are like "hey sweetie come here" that is definitely what i should not do (this actually happened the other day)! so no worries, mom, i got this ghetto thing down.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
The only meaning is the meaning you make
i love the apple store! Because you can be annoying a hog a computer forever and use free internet and no one yells at you! also, they play good music :).
So welcome to day three in New York City.
Let's talk a little bit about what the heck i'm doing here.
Coming to New York is meaningful, that much is obvious. i mean, how could it not be meaningful and have large significance in my life? I completely stumbled across this opportunity by chance, by a random accident. by the serendipity of link chasing one day when i was not doing my homework last semester so of course it was fate or the interferance of the gods or something.
So where is it, huh? what is the meaning of me being here? lucky for me and you and my belief in divine beings, i'm into spiritualism, post-modern theory, and discerning the little meanings that others might miss (aka making things up).
But this kind of "discernment" takes time--i can't have a reason for being after only three days! But stay tuned, it will come. The gods of fate have blessed me. This is evident even by the last 72 hours. Here are some examples:
-When i rode the subway downtown yesterday, i was thinking, "i wonder where H&M is", and then behold, as i ascended the stairs, there it was, like a vision in front of me. Just luck? i think not.
-Today, i ran out of time in the morning and didn't pack a sandwich. despite my restrained budget, i had to go buy something. it's freezing cold and i wore a skirt (it's the masochism) so my choice was based mainly on what A) didn't look so dirty i thought i was actually in cairo and B) closest. this left me with Cafe 28, a "gormet cafe" or some crap that translates to "we are going to charge you seven dollars for a sandwich." But nevertheless, i persevered, and found that a huge cup of soup was only 3.20 after tax. and you know what? when i was done eating that steamin' hot cup of soup, i actually though it was worth 3.20. how many times have you eaten a 7 dollar sandwich and were like, "gee, i'm glad i spent enough money to feed myself 3 weeks worth of spaghetti. that was worth it." never. so clearly, my good lunch fortune was another blessing.
Clearly, with this train of events, it is only a matter of days before i find out my True Purpose in Life.
And the first think i do when i know is make a sacrificial offering of thanks to the gods in the form of a new H&M wardrobe.
So welcome to day three in New York City.
Let's talk a little bit about what the heck i'm doing here.
Coming to New York is meaningful, that much is obvious. i mean, how could it not be meaningful and have large significance in my life? I completely stumbled across this opportunity by chance, by a random accident. by the serendipity of link chasing one day when i was not doing my homework last semester so of course it was fate or the interferance of the gods or something.
So where is it, huh? what is the meaning of me being here? lucky for me and you and my belief in divine beings, i'm into spiritualism, post-modern theory, and discerning the little meanings that others might miss (aka making things up).
But this kind of "discernment" takes time--i can't have a reason for being after only three days! But stay tuned, it will come. The gods of fate have blessed me. This is evident even by the last 72 hours. Here are some examples:
-When i rode the subway downtown yesterday, i was thinking, "i wonder where H&M is", and then behold, as i ascended the stairs, there it was, like a vision in front of me. Just luck? i think not.
-Today, i ran out of time in the morning and didn't pack a sandwich. despite my restrained budget, i had to go buy something. it's freezing cold and i wore a skirt (it's the masochism) so my choice was based mainly on what A) didn't look so dirty i thought i was actually in cairo and B) closest. this left me with Cafe 28, a "gormet cafe" or some crap that translates to "we are going to charge you seven dollars for a sandwich." But nevertheless, i persevered, and found that a huge cup of soup was only 3.20 after tax. and you know what? when i was done eating that steamin' hot cup of soup, i actually though it was worth 3.20. how many times have you eaten a 7 dollar sandwich and were like, "gee, i'm glad i spent enough money to feed myself 3 weeks worth of spaghetti. that was worth it." never. so clearly, my good lunch fortune was another blessing.
Clearly, with this train of events, it is only a matter of days before i find out my True Purpose in Life.
And the first think i do when i know is make a sacrificial offering of thanks to the gods in the form of a new H&M wardrobe.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
back in the clouds
Hellllo!
Flordia is great! today i went to the pool. i made my mom go with me. We were about to walk outside and she was all "you better get a jacket, it's cold outside" and i was like, "mom, it's 75 degrees" "well, that's chilly!" whatever.
the pool in the middle of the day is representative of the best of saint cloud. nothin' but old people. and only the really nice ones who talk to you, and the ones who are impressive. there's this one guy, i think he's old, it's hard to tell because i don't wear glasses or contacts to the pool, but he's bald, so he must be old, right? well anyway, there's this old guy that just does the most beautiful butterfly up and down the pool...so beautiful...so impressive.
there was a lady there wearing a wetsuit today. in our heated community pool when the weather is in the 70s! i guess everything is relative, and cold has a different meaning if you run with the 65 and over crowd.
the old "good" people (the ones who exercise and want to talk to you and not just yell at you for playin' your rap music) are one of the few things i like about saint cloud. probably because we relate a lot--they hate the cold and they've done a lot of things in their life, and now they are taking a break. and the same is true of me, if we think of "life" as the last three years that i haven't been living in saint cloud.
then again. i know i'm old for my age, but this is kind of ridiculous.
anyway, it will be good to get out of saint cloud soon.
i like the oldies, but they do make you start to think that there is nothing to do that hasn't been done, and you have no obligation to do anything anymore except...well, go swimming and enjoy the warm weather. do activities. you've accomplished things, and now you are done. retired.
but i'm not done yet! i've got lots of stuff to do...and the first thing i have to do is go figure out what that is.
i'm excited about new york for lots of reasons. but one reason is i think that going to new york and living my life there, outside of school and outside of the normal structure i've been under for the last few years, will offer me the chance to "wake up" to a new phase of life.
sorry this is a short update--i've had an awesome break with my family and Melissa, but it's been pretty unremarkable. which, after 16 months straight of school and my life being busy to the max, it's been kind of nice for once to just let my brain melt for 3 weeks.
wish me luck for next week!
Flordia is great! today i went to the pool. i made my mom go with me. We were about to walk outside and she was all "you better get a jacket, it's cold outside" and i was like, "mom, it's 75 degrees" "well, that's chilly!" whatever.
the pool in the middle of the day is representative of the best of saint cloud. nothin' but old people. and only the really nice ones who talk to you, and the ones who are impressive. there's this one guy, i think he's old, it's hard to tell because i don't wear glasses or contacts to the pool, but he's bald, so he must be old, right? well anyway, there's this old guy that just does the most beautiful butterfly up and down the pool...so beautiful...so impressive.
there was a lady there wearing a wetsuit today. in our heated community pool when the weather is in the 70s! i guess everything is relative, and cold has a different meaning if you run with the 65 and over crowd.
the old "good" people (the ones who exercise and want to talk to you and not just yell at you for playin' your rap music) are one of the few things i like about saint cloud. probably because we relate a lot--they hate the cold and they've done a lot of things in their life, and now they are taking a break. and the same is true of me, if we think of "life" as the last three years that i haven't been living in saint cloud.
then again. i know i'm old for my age, but this is kind of ridiculous.
anyway, it will be good to get out of saint cloud soon.
i like the oldies, but they do make you start to think that there is nothing to do that hasn't been done, and you have no obligation to do anything anymore except...well, go swimming and enjoy the warm weather. do activities. you've accomplished things, and now you are done. retired.
but i'm not done yet! i've got lots of stuff to do...and the first thing i have to do is go figure out what that is.
i'm excited about new york for lots of reasons. but one reason is i think that going to new york and living my life there, outside of school and outside of the normal structure i've been under for the last few years, will offer me the chance to "wake up" to a new phase of life.
sorry this is a short update--i've had an awesome break with my family and Melissa, but it's been pretty unremarkable. which, after 16 months straight of school and my life being busy to the max, it's been kind of nice for once to just let my brain melt for 3 weeks.
wish me luck for next week!
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