emily.the.strange

I did not make it to Ocala today. I was planning on going to support my boss, MISTER Timm Collins who’s speaking at a friend’s church. However, I have come down with a ferocious cold.

so I will sit here on my couch and pray for him instead. he’s going to knock it out of the park, no doubt about it. i hate that i’ve missed it. grrrrr.

i hate being sick.

But not for me. Nope. That is next week sometime.
But today, in about 45 minutes, I am leaving to drive to Trampa to help my bff Tabby Bottoms move to a nearby city. I am up early and it didn’t kill me!

So, I can’t continue the “you ask, i’ll answer” series ’cause I’ll be working oh so hard.
I’ll be back tomorrow though. Go visit her blog for your entertainment today.

PS: Did you watch the office? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

PPS: Allergies. Ugh.

oh boy.

Dwight K. Schrute asks:
What type of bear is best? That’s a rediculous question….there are basically two schools of thought. BATTLESTAR GALLACTICA!
Did my shoes come off in the plane crash? probably not, BUT, if they did you could hollow out the harry potter books you brought and use them for shoes. or the sand would toughen your feet.
Have you ever seen a burn victim? Ryan started the FIIIIIYAAAAARE!
Do you even know what a fitness orb it? <–I left that typo in there. You’re getting soft Dwight. Yes I do. My favorite female athelete has one (or two).
What is going on here? shenanigans.
What is the Dharma Initiative? it’s that thing from lost! althought I didn’t know that until I watched your show.
What is the cause of Robert Mifflin’s suicide? he hated himself.
What is Michael Scott’s biggest fear? lonliness. or women.

KFJ asks:
What is your favorite episode of The Office???? Mine is “Ben Franklin”
Now that I’m caught up it is definitely a tie between Office Olympics and Casino Night. I tend to enjoy the ones that feature Jim and Pam the most.

Jamison asks:
What inspired you to be a programming director?
Interesting question. Long answer. In 2004 I started working at RPC…I think it was 2004. Maybe 2005 early. Anyway, I started working part time answering phones, printing bulletins, you know: busy work. I don’t know if I’d call myself a “practicing Christian” at that time. I had been raised in a series of Baptist churches and was very disconcerted. I thought it was a joke. It was too fake for me. I couldn’t stand being around it without being disgusted. [Let me just throw in here that the way to 'stick it to the church' is not to go off drinking and all the stuff that I did. It didn't bother them one bit, and it didn't do me any good either.] So, back to 04/05. We were still baptist at that point (FBC Jan Phyl) and I went on Sundays to appease my family. Timm Collins spent a lot of time breaking down the walls I’d built, showing me what a genuine leader looks like, putting up with my horrible HORRIBLE attitude, and really just laying down the law. I tried to rebel, and came close to quitting several times, but my second job at the mall wouldn’t have supported me. I stayed.

In 2005 I experienced NorthPoint for the first time. I cried from almost the moment I walked into the auditorium. It felt so real, and so raw. It felt like someone saw me, and knew my struggles and self-loathing and made a church just for me. A place where I could get it. It was a pivotal thing in my life.

I can’t remember the whole timeline but eventually we all felt that FBC Jan Phyl needed to become RPC. I was in. Like, all in. I was still just the part time receptionist at that point. As we started adding technology into the mix of our service, I got very upset with how chopped up it felt. Nothing was smooth, there was dead air, there were typos in the songs, etc. I spoke with Timm about it and he told me to take it over. As the church evolved, so did the position, and now it consists of what I do today. What I do is a far cry from working in an advertising firm in Manhattan like I’d always planned, but I know without a doubt that sitting in the auditorium in Georgia God called me into ministry. I don’t deserve it. I don’t get why He thinks I can do it. But I love having a front row seat

Daddy asks:
Remember the secret code word?
Heck yes I do. When I was little my dad had a secret code word for me so I’d be safe. For example: If someone came to my school to pick me up, they had to know the secret code word or I wouldn’t go with them. This way I’d always know that my parents knew where I was. It was popcorn, by the way. I seem to remember a time when one of their friends came to get me and didn’t know the word, and I pitched a fit until he called my dad to get it lol.

We’ll wrap this up tomorrow….until then, happy Thursday! The Office season finale is tonight!!

Here we go. I’m probably going to spread these out over a few posts, because some of them are gosh darn ridiculous [glares at Travis].

Curious George asks: If the presidential election were held today, who would you vote for?

George: I’d vote for Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters. Honestly I’m not all that happy with any of the candidates for this election. I am also not happy with how the media is handling the whole thing, but that is another story.

Mike Monts asks: what is your favorite brand of peanut butter? Peter Pan reduced fat creamy kind.
american or german cars? anything but your car. [he drives a yellow short bus]
who is your favorite female athelete? kristen freaking jane.
do you prefer chunk light or solid white albacore tuna? I prefer “big tuna” [aka Jim from The Office]mmm.
who has recently been an inspiration in your life? an extensive list could be here, but at the top of it would be you.
are you excited about us moving to our new house? i will be more excited when you give up and let me decorate! you take the outside and give up the inside!
do you think lebron james is a cry baby? that’s what papa johns said.
who is a better guitarist: yngwie malmstein or paco de lucia? jason mraz.
are pam and jim going to break up during the season finale? i don’t know. i’m sure it will be a cliffhanger.
if they do what are you going to do? write some angry letters. not really. they said the show is supposed to be about real life, and that’s real life.
whats up? everything.
what are you doing right now, other than reading this comment? i am in zoostation, drinking coffee and eating two-bite brownies. delish.

That’s it for today. Stay tuned for tomorrow, where I’ll tackle questions from a celebrity, and let you in on a bit of my childhood.

Em

Everyone has done this already, but I’m bone dry as far as this blog thingy goes.

So Imma let you drive for a while.

Ask me anything. Anything you want to know, I’ll do my best to let you in on my life.

Go!

I am going through a major blogging slump.

Stay tuned. I will return with a vengeance.

I saw handcuffs today (and not in the fun way…).

Walking up to the walmart(s) to pick up some things…I was pretty psyched I got a good parking space (we call that porn-star parking over in monts-land) and it was really pretty outside.

I get up to the main doors, I have a guy walking next to me. He looks OK. Not scary or anything. Mid 40’s, jeans, long sleeved shirt (I take descriptions in my head ’cause my dad used to be a cop and he used to quiz me on it. I could go on and on about this guy, but I will spare you), white shoes. He looks at me, smiles. I smile back. I look up and see her: she must be 80 years old. The police officer is in full uniform, left hand on her right arm, escorting her out. He is carrying her purse, which is big enough to possibly carry me. The sun glints and catches the metal on her wrists. The guy next to me sees it at the same time.

Before I could stop myself I saw, “awwww.” Not in the “how cute, that granny got caught shop lifting way,” but the “awww that is so sad. maybe she was hungry” kinda way. He looks over and laughs. It is a joke to him. I said, “that’s so sad.” He said, “Yeah, you’re right, but with the economy the way it is I’m sure we’ll be seeing things like that a lot more often.”

I will not put my opinion here, because I want to hear yours.

What do you think of the story?

I’ve been in a medically induced depression and just recently feel like a person again. How’s your day going?

I’ve been thinking about this post all week. I wasn’t going to say anything about it because although I love you inter-people very much, I don’t know all of you and well, it’s personal.

But screw that, because this is all about transparency, right? This is about real people and real life and I am about to be really really real with you.

For a lot of months I was really unhappy with my whole life, for no good reason. I have an awesome job, a really hot awesome nice good cook of a husband, we’re getting a house, we have some money. And I would daily think about driving my car into a tree. And I couldn’t get it…like, almost like I was in a fog, you know? I just wanted to quit everything, lay in my bed, and never come out. That sounds all dramatic and stuff, and it is, and it was.

Let me just say that unless you’ve really experienced depression you might not want to mock it, because it is a biotch.

In the midst of me feeling all foggy and crazy and sad, I was trying different types of medication (you know, the kind that let you live the married life without all the babies running around). Turns out that stuff was making me crazy. After ruling out other things I started doing some interweb research about side effects and let me tell you, I was not alone. I didn’t want to go off of it, but I finally stopped taking it out of pure desperation.

I have been off of it for 9 days now and I cannot tell you how amazing I feel. I can think through things again. I get mad about things. I have patience. I’ve had stress headaches because of all the stuff I’m taking on trying to catch up. I feel so incredibly ALIVE that I can’t believe it. I guess the bottom line is: I feel.

Life lessons:
1. If you are depressed, talk to someone about it. I did and he helped
2. Women, listen to your bodies.
3. Research the medicine you are on.
4. Don’t wait.

How fast do you type? I saw this on cooldad’s website and had to see if I could beat him…

93 words

What about you? Go take your Speedtest.

Also, did you learn to type at school or did you make your dad buy mavis beacon teaches typing when you were 10 so you could IM your friends faster? (yes, I just gave you a tiny taste of my long standing geekdom) Haha.

Last night we got lost in a town that, according to wikipedia, has 2,975 residents as of 2004. There are 2 redlights. 1 McDonalds.

We had to find First Baptist Church.

We went to the bank downtown: they sent us in the wrong direction. To no where.

While driving around in no where, we see an ice cream truck. We asked the lady in the ice cream truck. SHE DRIVES AROUND TOWN ALL FREAKING DAY IN A FREAKING ICE CREAM TRUCK. Surely she will know where FBC Frostproof is.  She says, “You won’t believe this, but I’m from Lakeland.”

Seriously. I didn’t make that up.

Her directions took us to an elementary school. Cussing 1, Emily 0.

We asked some guys on the side of the road by the auto repair shop. They pointed us in the right direction, but we ended up at the methodist church. Frostproof is not good at denominations, or directions.

Finally, we had to call the people we were meeting and have them get us there via cellphone. We were 30 minutes late.

The wedding starts tonight at 6:00! I’m singing I need You (that one that LeAnn Rhymes did) and it’s not really my typical wedding song, so I’m nervous about it. Mike is playing guitar for me, because he is my hero.

We will let you know how it goes.

PS. If you’re getting married in the Central Florida area and want some quality live music for your ceremony, holler at us!