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     This magical Thursday November 12th is a beautiful Thankful Thursday, and today I am thankful for the documentary film Promises. It examines the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the perspectives of both Israeli and Palestinian children. 

     I liked it a lot and you should too (especially my Jerusalem peeps). Watch it on youtube. It’s 1.5 hours long and in 11 segments.
     It made me wish I was still in the Middle East, but lots of things do that since I miss everything so much.
     I watched this for my intercultural peacebuilding class and it was a great way to really see how extremely difficult and time consuming peacebuilding is. But then you can see that peace, in very small steps, IS possible.

Ahhh! We see a big, fatty cockroach on our wall. We’re screaming as we watch it creep into the closet, yelling at each other to kill it.

He’s in the closet. We panic. We scream. We don’t know what to do. Stacy gets the broom. I stand and watch.

We (Stacy mostly) hesitantly look in the closet, hitting clothes, moving things around, trying to see we’re Mr. Cockroach went. Hayley (another roommate) comes in, screams, hence we scream louder, Stacy with the usual man scream. But Hayley didn’t see him, she just screamed to scare us more. She laughs maniacally. Not funny. This cockroach stuff is a serious business.

Stacy moves the laundry basket. Where is the little devil? Ahh! There he is! Ahhh! We’re all on the beds, screaming, not doing anything, just yelling at each other to kill it. Stacy grabs one of her books to throw at him, then because she likes her books so, she grabs one of mine instead. My book is chucked it in the general direction of the cockroach, but misses. So she grabs another one of my books, misses again.

The cockroach scurries deeper into the closet.

We try and collect ourselves. We get off of the beds, and Stacy goes back to her closet position. I get closer too, but she has the broom. She’s doing most of the work.

She pulls a suitcase out. There he is, on the other suitcase. We see him. We scream. We stare at him. He doesn’t do much. Stacy readies the broom. I grab the clorox spray and dustpan.

She karate chops the broom down. Screams. She’s holding the broom there, fear of pulling it away. What if he’s not dead? She pulls the broom away. Ahhh! He’s far from dead, maybe has an injured leg or two. But he still runs behind the suitcase to the back of the closet. I’m on top of it with the clorox spray bleaching anything I can. Stacy yells not to spray her suitcase, but I’m in the zone. I’m spraying anything. I spray the cockroach and he twitches a bit, but still is creeping around the closet floor at top speed.

Stacy brings in the broom again. Whack! Whack! Stacy goes to town with the broom. I try to continue and spray him as she’s continuously strikes. Whack! Whack! She doesn’t stop.

Finally she takes a break with the broom. I start again with the clorox. He’s on his back. He has stopped running around. But his legs are still going. And then the broom and my sister start going again. Whack! Whack! Whack! I think she likes this.

After many vicious acts on our part, the cockroach is dead. We (Stacy mostly) are victorious. She sweeps him into the dustpan I’m holding, and he’s inches away from my flesh. I start sweating again. So we carry it over to the toilet. Flush… and he’s gone. Relief.

We walk back into out bedroom, see it in shambles, and laugh laugh laugh. Hahaha! We are quite disheveled from the cockroach destroying, somewhat sweaty, and our closet is in complete disarray. But we’re happy now, and so are you!

I’m thankful we’re not sleeping with him tonight.

     I love gnomes and I must say, “thank you gnomes for being so cool”. I am grateful for how harmoniously they live with nature and how they care for wildlife. I am grateful for their good health and that they are able to live to 400 years old. And they have cute little laugh wrinkles on their face too, which means they are joyful creatures. Being joyful and healthy and at one with nature is the coolest of cool!

     The world would be a better place if we all became a little more gnomelike. I am pretty postitivo that I need this book, so that I can learn more about gnomes and become more like them, and make the world a better place. I would also really like to start regularly sporting some gnome earrings, but I have yet to find the perfect ones. Maybe I’ll have to carve some myself.
  
     Mahalo gnomes for inspiring the world to be better.

P.S. Do you like me new gnomey background?

Today is the beginning of a period of renewal and rejuvenation. The first of a new month, fast Sunday, my first day to start drinking my new alkaline water, my first day of swearing off sweets for a month and a half until I go back to Alaska, and my first day to use the new basket on my bike, and the fun new little bell too. Aujourd’hui has been an excellent day. 

And as it is now November,  the month of Thanksgiving, I will be giving extra thanks all month long.

Today I am especially grateful for President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, and the wonderful CES fireside talk he gave tonight.

It was excellent. I learned how blessed I am with the knowledge that I have, especially the knowledge of the Gospel. I need to share that knowledge. It is blesses my life in every way and only brings us good.
And as we know, we are here in this life so that we can have joy. We need happiness in our lives. He also said that when we are unhappy, think of where we’re from and where we’re going. Or if that doesn’t work, you can always hop on my bike and ring the bell, because that makes me instantly happy. When that little bell sounds, bam! And a smile on my face.
I love my bike.
And firesides.
I just love this place.

For this lovely All Hallows Eve, Sister and I went and played on the beach and had the most delightful time ever! Not only that, but we did some fun hopping too,
hence this post is called “Hoppy
Halloween!!”You should hop too.

    And that is where I got this 6 lb 12 oz / 3.06 kg can of black beans. Isn’t it delightful? I think so. Black beans are neato.
    I love Costco, their bulk food, their samples, how they have everything you need to survive. If you ever wanted to, you could easily live there. I want to. I want to live in Costco, maybe.  Oh I don’t know… I have mixed feelings on the issue.
    So back to the beans. After opening my beastly can o’ beans, I proceeded to make some black bean soup, complete with tomatoes, corn, peppers, onions, and garlic. It was deliciouso! Then Stacy, Ally, Ting, and I sat around the table, ate yummy soup, and talked about what we are thankful for. After all, it is Thankful Thursday. 

 I got a very lovely email from Brother today. Twas nice and long even had pictures! I miss Jakey Boy quite a lot and wish he were here in Hawaii with me instead of in New Jersey. He goes to dental school in New Jersery. Wow. My bro is in dental school. Impressive. I’m so proud of that brother of mine, who in a few years will be referred to as Dr. Jakey, or Dr. Jakey Boy, or maybe Dr. Owens, yeah, probably Dr. Owens. Anyways, I just wanted to write and say that I like my brother. I’m so lucky to have a cool brother like Jakey Bob. This was the last picture we took at the airport right before we sent him off to New Jersey land. Sad day. Twas quite sad when he left, but Christmas is coming in two months! Which means not only snow, Alaska, home, family, Christmas trees, winter wonderland, but I’ll also see Jakey boy!