Overruled Squared

"Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone. Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control." Proverbs 25:15, 28

"Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things. And he's been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts...I would not refer to him as a dictator.'' Vice President Joe Biden

We are in bed with him. He supports the apple of God's eye, Israel. He does us favors.

Yet contrary to our VP's sentiments, he is indeed a brutal man who has terrorized his people. But the administration knows the Muslim Brotherhood is lurking in the darkness and when I see the left, Western thinking, and Egyptian Americans singing in the streets of New York (not Cairo) their support of a possible Jihad rule, I say just keep shining your celebratory glow sticks on this uprising and watch the danger enter your comfortable life.

Speaking of a comfortable and personal freedom filled life.

True reason to flood the streets....A resounding no to Socialism in Florida rules OBama Care unconstitutional.

With a swift gavel bang, Judge Vinson sends it to Supreme Court, and we inevitably wave goodbye to OBama's mandate.

Reminder to my fellow Americans:

The federal government cannot twist our arm to buy anything.

Regulating inactivity is the same thing as telling New Yorker's they have to buy cars or the homeless they have to buy a house.

This coming from a woman with a NYU Dental Student appointment tomorrow cause it's cheaper, but damn it to hell, I'd rather have the choice.

What matters more than freedom?

Winter

Oh Yeah. All Right. Take it Easy Baby. Make it Last All Night..

"In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety." Psalm 4:8

I wonder just how many times bartenders can blast Tom Petty's American Girl at high decibels and get a resounding cheerleader roar from the women shimmying their weight to the center of attention. I thought about this as I stood on my cold kitchen tiles in swollen bare feet and listened to the thumping of undergrads on a wood floor at 3 AM.

Mind you I wasn't waxing poetically about the draw of a Gainesville grown guitar player for sheer mind stretching kicks, I was simply still running on exhaust somewhere between angry adrenaline and Basil Haydens bite.

After enduring ten hours of The Good Wife in hand me down Yves St. Laurent stilettos with tissue stuffed in the toes, I made my pilgrimage home between the shoulder high ice caves that encompassed each block.

Nearly home and nearly sane navigating drunk crowds and dangerous conditions, it took a tough guy Korean in his black Lexus SUV to take me over the edge I was living.

Already burdened with five wardrobe changes and a white garment bag slowly turning the color of black slush, I crossed on a blinking red hand.

He in his Friday Night splendor decided he would beat the no right on red rule, cutting me off and grabbing all four of my (yes Joan Crawford) wire hangers in his wheel well...dragging me down 1st Avenue, while I beat the side of his car with my open palm.

Exercising his most honorable asset, he accelerated, turning my shoes into skis on the less than plowed road. With this, I took the back side of my fist and pounded it into his tinted window with enough force to convince him to slam on his brakes.

Upon which I unhooked myself, quickly surveyed the scratches down the side of his shiny weapon of choice and jerked open the back door where I found three beautifully coiffed Korean women and a sneering Napoleon sized man boy who couldn't look me in the eye.

While onlookers screamed the likes of "Whoa and Ya Alright?" I explained to the carload why I took the entire block ride with them and that it was their selfish mistake.

I didn't stick around to hear the coward defend his driving skills or shower me with dismissive names as I was dancing around the blaring horns and blinking blue lights of the aggravated

traffic behind.

Contrary to German philosophers beliefs, God is Alive!

“Believe me! The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!”

Nietzsche

Do you think Friedrich was referring to our daily commute?

Oil and Vinegar

"Westerners are looking at what is happening on the Egyptian streets and wondering if it is good for an oppressed people to protest against a semi-dictatorial regime. Most of these young protesters cannot find jobs, and inflation has ravaged the middle class, to say nothing of the gulf between the very rich and the very poor.

On the surface, this is an understandable situation. But before you judge the motives of the protestors, you must know who is really behind those young people on the streets. The Muslim Brotherhood has been thirsting for power in Egypt for many, many years. Founded back in the 1920s, the aim of the Muslim Brotherhood was to topple the British rule and its puppet Egyptian government. Their goal then was to draw Egypt back into their militant-Islam, Sharia-following, anti-western, anti-Christian fold.

In America today, those on the left and some on the right who have very little knowledge or understanding of the ethos of Islam and why democracy and Islam could never coexist, are making very naive and silly statements. While we in the West believe that we the people empower government to act on our behalf, Islam believes that the power comes from Allah directly to his prophet and the successors to his prophet the Caliphs who then reinforce Allah s Sharia (law). Talking about democracy and elections to Islamists would be less effective than whistling Dixie."

Dr. Michael Youssef

Silence...Can You Hear Me?

"God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’ so that everyone he has made may know his work, he stops all people from their labor." Job 37:5-7

It's nearly midnight and a hush falls over Manhattan as twelve more inches of the purest white covers this sleepy town.

I'll treasure this stillness.

Before the grinding salt spreaders make their way and metal scraping plows break dawn's day.

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day
Nothing gold can stay.

Robert Frost

Courtesy of EP, HW

"Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 19:21

Is their God? not telling them the same...>>

Noted-More News on the Cold Front

Noted

I counted how long it took one snowflake to fall from the roof of the seven story walk up to the grey abyss beneath.

42 seconds. This is a good sign.

Using one part concept I learned from Poltergeist to count the beats between thunder and lightning and the other part sheer logic, I have determined the wind has slowed its face burning, bone chilling, skin slicing pace.

And with this, I realize if the silly undergrad who forks over $15 for her pack of Newport's can brave smoke inhalation in sub zero temps on her fire escape, I can manage the plod to the laundromat so both my husband and I can have one more layer against our bare bottoms.

A Safety Net

"Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow

weary, they will walk and not be faint.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

Isaiah 40:28-31 41:10

Forget what I said about not consciously caring...that is not exactly what I meant.

I would like to say I slipped and hit my hard head on the ice covered sidewalks that cover this current glacier, also known as Gotham. (It's 6 degrees)

What I meant to say of course is because of my unwavering faith in Jesus, I react and respond knowing full well His Will, will be done. I know for certain He'll catch me.

Let's just call it conscious courage.

Can you count on your precious parachute?

730 Days...Older and Wiser

"He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful." John 15:2

"When Ego is Lost, Limit is Lost." Yogi Bhajan

Funny thing ego, it inhibits and determines every step we make and contemplate taking.

If I consciously cared...

Would I consider giving my testimony when I raise my hands, bow my head, and sing out loud, "I Believe" on the treadmill at my Jewish owned and ran Y despite the glares of criticism?

Would I swallow my pride, when thrice looked over by a production office , stomp my way through slushy SoHo, hell-bent to hand deliver my resume and reel to the casting agent again...?

Yes, I take heed in Ben Franklin's advice of writing my injuries in dust and benefits in marble.

I ponder this every time I hit the publish button...

But the question remains; Why don't we as humans look backwards on our lives in sheer disbelief? Recognize the bridges we've built, the chasms we've crossed, friendships we've forged, journey's we've labored, and characters we have honed and claim them out loud!

Every word written in these last TWO years (Happy Anniversary To Me) has served as solid bricks on top of my everlasting cornerstone. Being beat to a peachy pulp is a part of the painstaking lesson I so desire to learn. The strength of this ravenous desire is how I will measure my famous success.

And if I have to attain the astounding and asinine to gain authority on God's hand pruned purpose for me , what other master class more profound than Manhattan?

The heart never takes the place of the head: but it can, and should, obey it.--C.S. Lewis

After 684 posts, would you lick your lips and eat any of this fruit I've been pushing?

Must Be Friday's Call to Worship

But the women drivers have to enter through the side door.

Sad Islam. Very sad.

Break a Leg Up

"With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those signs and great wonders."

Deuteronomy 29:3

Should these sightings in my hood today be construed as all signs pointing towards YES?

Assistant Director for Nurse Jackie on treadmill at gym.

Head of Wardrobe for Boardwalk Empire at Whole Foods.

Director for Good Wife strolling down 1st Avenue.

Matt Dillon in front of my apartment.

I approached 2 out of 4.

What can I say, I'm looking for a way in...

Rain Down

A love hate day in New York ...but one I'd live again.

Get sprayed with slush as I cross a sleet covered Broadway early this morning... *

Shoot an NBC Sports promo as a Die Hard Hockey Fan. (Go Rangers)

Audition for a Smoothie loving mom.

Audition for a Smoothie hating mom.

Attempt to give money to the Neil Young sound alike on the freezing wet and cold 42nd Street subway platform and be told that "Subway riders had been supporting him for 7 years, today the music was free."**

*too pissed and wet to get proof.

**too busy smiling.

Voice of Reason

"So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-13

Since I couldn't fulfill his request of a dollar bill to spare, I reached deep into my jacket and gave the man wrapped in every color bandanna known to man a lint covered quarter. Then I walked over to the waterless fountain in Washington Square Park and threw the penny that remained in the palm of my mittened hand.

As I watched the copper coin roll along the stone bottom, I heard these wishful words.

"Your cup would runneth over if you used your spiritual gift."

I turned around fully expecting to see the golden grin of my rainbow skull cap crusader looking for more jingle.

But the 60 something year old man, four benches away wasn't interested in me, but the coed sitting strangely close to him and his bulging briefcase.

"I think there is something to your writing. Something untapped. Like the despondent rancher living on his scrubby land while below his feet bubbling, gushing, hot crude oil for the taking, yet he's living hand to mouth.

Your writing.

Well, it could take you to that place of contentment; that emerald isle on the horizon where the sun seems to shine the brightest.

It is agony you demonstrate, but what about salvation and glorifying His word through the ink of your pen?

It's your writing that will unveil the masks we don, will lift the lives that are low, guide the ones at the start of their journey who are hypnotized by the mad Cheshire cat's pointing tail and don't know which way to turn.

What better way to illuminate the path's arrow than with your words.

Don't you see what I'm trying to convey?

It's not the relentless whoring out of one's image or conforming you've ever sought. Not the ragged race of the unrealistic, the plastic, and the ticking bomb we call time.

Surely, you see beyond the knowledge of food and fashion and seek substance and sanctity.

Is the two years of life and limitless boundaries on a concrete island enough to douse your fancy footloosing and how much more lactic acid can you burn pushing against your God given gift as you melt into a filthy puddle of slush at the corner of St. Mark's and A?

Your writing, that is what you should pursue."

I shook my head and walked insanely fast across Broadway to the warmth of safety of my home, popped some Bufferin and picked my wardrobe for my NBC promo tomorrow.

Am I going crazy?

"There is within human nature an amazing potential for goodness" MLK

Monday

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.” - Philippians 2:14-16

Apostle Paul, Can this start today?

Last Words

G-L-A-M-O-R-O-U-S

"Making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is." Ephesians 5:16-17

"You need to git up, git out and git somethin

Don't let the days of your life pass by
You need to git up, git out and git somethin
Don't spend all your time tryin to get high..."*

9:00 Alarm. Ignore.

10:15 Faint sound of text...or did I dream it?

11:00 Sit straight up in bed and admit out loud, " Damn, I'm a great sleeper!"

11:33 Swing my legs onto the floor. Make Coffee.

"You need git up, git out and git somethin
How will you make it if you never even try
You need to git up, git out and git somethin
Cuz you and I got to do for you and I..."*

12:00-12:20 Stare at grey hairs in mirror. Count them. Stop when I get to ten. Stick out my tongue.

12:20 Call production offices of Comedy Central, Jimmy Fallon, David Letterman, MTV Networks, and God help me, The View.

2:00 Husbands home. Affirm one of my purposes in a little Afternoon Delight. Then scare him away with the singing of my stream of consciousness.

3:00 Call 20/20 and tell them exactly what I would do...Hire ME to do the shocking dramatizations on their Friday night show

"Yes, I have extensive reporting experience." "Where...the Virgin Islands." "Yes, I'm serious."

3:30 Call NYU dental and inquire about one of their best students fixing my tooth I broke in JULY on a Showtime set.

Write "The Big C" casting a postcard and remind them, I was that girl.

4:00-4:15 Put EXTRA anti-wrinkle eye cream under eyes. Stare at the iris of my right eye.

Smear Peanut Butter and Jelly over a waffle and eat in two breaths while watching OPRAH.

"Without any doubt or fear

I know the Lord ain't brought me this far

so he could drop me off here
Did I make myself clear?

You need to git up, git out, cut this bullshit out..."*

5:00-5:05 Question My Sanity. Then put labels on envelopes. Send one to Maury Povich for an actress position in his reenactments.

6:02 Pluck grey hairs from my once BLOND head.

6:15 Send "Best Outfit" pic to Grant Wilfley Casting. They told me I'm being considered for the new Garry Marshall movie.

6:30 Snort a line. Brave the cold. Run 4 miles.

Just kidding...3.

8:09 Come Home. Pour a glass of wine (haven't had a drink in 9 days).

And question where the hell the day went...

Would you call this the dark end of the street?

*Outkast

"The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful; they fail to act wisely or do good.
Even on their beds they plot evil; they commit themselves to a sinful course and do not reject what is wrong." Psalm 36:3-4

I am sorry I have not mentioned the senseless and horrific extremist shooting in Tuscon.

I am sorry we live in a world where rage and entitlement stomp out peace and goodwill.

But mostly I am sorry any pundit has decided to play the blame game from the left or the right.

I thought better about adding to the hysterical coverage but this morning I grabbed my morning paper and The Daily News, The New York Times, and The New York Post had all posted Jared Loughner's chilling grin across the front page.

I felt regret for not honoring the names of the fallen, their stolen lives, and mourning families.

John Roll

Gabe Zimmerman

Dorwin Stoddard

Christina Greene

Dorthy Murray

and Phyllis Scheck are who we should be recognizing.

May God hold them close.

And for the repugnant pouncers who choose to use these tragic deaths for political gain, I'll pray for you.

Baby Steps or Steps to Baby?

"Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be." Job 8:7

Joan River's, A Piece of Work absolutely and emphatically captivated me.

This is one outspoken, hard working woman, demonstrating sheer humility.

Say what you will about image, but she doesn't care one bit.

And definitely doesn't spend 3 days a row in her pajamas like the author of this blog.

I need to take a page out of her career chasing rule book, which is work, work, work.

Plus she wears depression a lot better than I ever could on her expressionless face...

I promise I am making it to happy.

But dealing with the blatant rejection of this bizarro and brutal acting/writing world is a ticking time bomb and has me listening to my somewhat ticking clock.

Is it finally time to move to a mediocre town, get a mediocre job, and succumb to baby making?

*And here's a little fodder for the intellectual atheists...>>

And by fearless I mean...>>

Baby It's Cold Outside

Fearless and Shameless...>>

Dancing Amongst Chaos, Classicism, and Clarity

"So is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11

Sometimes I stare at people passing and see if I can catch of glimpse of doubt in their eyes.

Are they fooling themselves like me that they can afford to play out their lives in Manhattan?

Are they biding their time until the steam burns off and they collapse from their locomotive pedaling?

Do they too holler in the grocery aisle nonsensical words because cereal's just made another dollar leap?

How long can they continue to throw back $13 dollar Rye's and excuse tyranny for trendy?

Do they see their talent being swallowed by the masses' shadows?

Do they really believe they will survive the competitive numbers and grow into that beautiful big fish?

But in this skeptical examining, motives become insanely clear.

I see an unmistakable driving force in the faces I question.

An unbending desire to accomplish a life that is solely their own in their own time.

Iron sharpening iron challenges give spark to our feet.

New York's unyielding energy breathes a renewed resilience in the rejected and beaten down.

It picks you up by your turned up collar, puts you down in fertile ground and sings a song of growth...

Just do the steps that you've been shown
By everyone you've ever known
Until the dance becomes your very own
No matter how close to yours
Another's steps have grown
In the end there is one dance you'll do alone

Keep a fire for the human race
Let your prayers go drifting into space
You never know what will be coming down
Perhaps a better world is drawing near
And just as easily it could all disappear
Along with whatever meaning you might have found
Don't let the uncertainty turn you around
Go on and make a joyful sound

Into a dancer you have grown
From a seed somebody else has thrown
Go on ahead and throw some seeds of your own
And somewhere between the time you arrive
And the time you go
May lie a reason you were alive
But you'll never know...

Jackson Browne

Do you let uncertainty alter your chosen course?

Cryday

"It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Let him sit alone in silence, for the LORD has laid it on him." Lamentations 3:27-28

Some days are so burdensome, they render me speechless.

I think I'll celebrate Elvis' birthday a few hours early and pacify myself with a fried bacon, peanut butter, and banana sandwich.

At least I'm not Bloomberg under pundit fire.

If I had my life to live over
I know just what I'd like to be
A pampered pet of a rich brunette
Sitting on my mama's knee...The King

Whoof.

This industrious city is shelling out the dough for GPS devices on sanitation trucks and plows to track their "progress" in tomorrow's storm cleanup and clear out.

As if that shouldn't be evident...

Earthly Drivel

"But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body." Philippians 3:20-21

Yes, Mr. Speaker. I am thrilled to meet your acquaintance. Yes, Mr. Speaker. It is wonderful to be part of the majority. Yes, Mr. Speaker. You do have a rather large gavel. Yes Mr. Speaker, this makes me happy.

Beheading in Mexico does not...

But this should make all the politically incorrect tight asses that wouldn't know literature if it climbed out of theirs, happy....

The Mark Twain masterpiece, Huck Finn is being released with N.I.G.G.E.R. replaced with S.L.A.V.E. 218 times.

As if the word slave doesn't conjure up antagonistic reminders...

Thanks to the liberal publisher for "fixin" a classic.

Yeah, I'm officially back in New York, two ghetto birds (helicopters) hovered low on my street this evening as I made my commute home blinded by the NYPD's flashing lights...

The silver lining? A lack of blood splatter on the soiled snow piles.

High light? Just recognized by the City Media Foundation as a New York Blog.

Did you vow to be more positive this God given new year?

This man implores you to...>>Youseff

Boss?

Home Sweet Home.

And ready to use my entire arsenal to work for this good man.

Another Year

Oh Monday, Monday...

Hey kids sing this... Not that.

Another year is dawning, dear Father, let it be
In working or in waiting, another year with Thee.
Another year of progress, another year of praise,
Another year of proving Thy presence all the days.

Another year of mercies, of faithfulness and grace,
Another year of gladness in the shining of Thy face;
Another year of leaning upon Thy loving breast;
Another year of trusting, of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of service, of witness for Thy love,
Another year of training for holier work above.
Another year is dawning, dear Father, let it be
On earth, or else in Heaven, another year for Thee.

My Plan: Leap Without Looking

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17

This blank page represents the change of the calendar.

Yea, I rattle my bourbon laced ice to the notion of new.

Say contrite things like, may this one be better than the last.

Get out the dream journal and write my best cursive hopes for the future.

But, I don't make New Year's resolutions.

Have I said that before?

I don't stack up the rules and goals against me and tie myself to the thorned whipping post if I fail...

No, I just pray to be better, more fruitful. Aware.

And conscious of the choices put in front of me to lead me into the next opportunity or disaster I am supposed to experience; to tack on another layer of who I am becoming or will be.

My love for Jesus is my only constant.

My scenery morphs and dances around that Truth.

Seems to me and obviously others, the New Year represents grand change.

A switching of mindset. An adjustment. And about face.

Change of behavior, demeanor, locale.

It's a shift from the norm.

A reconciliation that there is more to life than what you've experienced.

It's short. And it's never to late to be what you might have been. (George Eliot)

Unless, of course your active motives are working for you.

Are they?

If not sing these words with me softly:

Words are flying out like
endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass
They slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow waves of joy
are drifting thorough my open mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai guru deva om
Nothing's gonna change my world.

Nothing's gonna change my world.

Fab 4 yo.