These are a few of my favorite things...

Who am I?
I believe the oracle at Delphi identified this question as the central one for all of life. It puzzled Socrates and it surely puzzles me. The reknowned philosopher, L. Appleton, gave some terms I can agree with in that "I am a one God, Apostolic, tongue-talkin', holy roller, born again, heaven-bound believer in the liberating power of Jesus name. I have [as it turns out] been washed in the blood, sanctified by the Spirit, I do believe in holiness and I [probably] would suggest that you do the same. I was set free at a Pentecostal altar on my knees and you will pardon me if I'm not ashamed, etc. etc." (Just to save time let me be clear that I'm probably not endorsing all the ramifications and insinuations that come with this song, but removed from all connotations, the denotation of this quoted portion is something I can whole-heartedly endorse.) I suspect this is not the satisfactory answer most of you were looking for.

Problem with stats
I am aware of my age, gender, height, weight, ethnicity, educational background, cultural influences, socioeconomic status (all too poignantly at the moment), political persuasion (or lack thereof), philosophies, friends, loves, hates, pet peeves, grammatical mistakes, favorite songs, favorite movies, favorite books, favorite people, favorite food, favorite joke (It's a knock knock joke---you start), shoe size, etc. etc. The problem in simply listing all this data for you is two-fold. 1.) you can take all this information and box me into a nice little compartment and 2.) I can give you all the right data because I hope you'll box me into a nice little compartment. Problem is: I don't think that's living and I definitely don't think that's the foundation for a relationship we're all called to be in.

That said
My name is Marjorie. I have an older sister and a younger brother who are each married though I am not. My parents are both alive and so is my maternal grandmother. I also have a six (soon to be seven) year old niece to whom I live next door (she lives with her parents, I'm living with mine for the time being) and I think she's pretty much the coolest. I have the best friends in the world and they are located all over it which makes keeping tabs and keeping in touch more difficult than I'd like. I'm 30, female, and I check all the boxes for race.

Favorites
My favorite books are pretty much all of them with these lists (representative of the Great Books of Western Civilization) ranking at the top (the Bible is on them and I would put it at the tippy-top). If I'm reading solely for pleasure, I'll take a young adult fiction writer, Gordon Korman, any day of the week (I just got two books for the plane and it's killing me waiting to read them). His older books are harder to find but totally worth it. Don't start on the newer series-es until you're hooked. If you want to know what he's about, No More Dead Dogs is in all the bookstores. Laugh out loud funny.

Favorite music: yikes! pretty diverse. I like everything from soup to nuts. CD's in my car right now are Keith Green, Nina Simone, Loretta Lynn (album with Jack White--a must have!), Ingrid & the Swingkatz, Desmond Dekker, and my friend Brian Brock.

Favorite movies: This post is getting way too long and I love movies. Here are the top 10 (off the top of my head and in no particular order since mood largely dictates that anyway):
Moulin Rouge, Happy Gilmore, Lord of the Rings, The Philadelphia Story, The Happiest Millionaire, It's A Wonderful Life, The Talented Mr. Ripley, American Psycho (be ready to fast forward sections of it), Spellbound, AND Napoleon Dynamite (Gosh! Whadya think? It's frickin' awesome!). Later I'll probably think of 100 more.

Finally!
I inspired myself yesterday and so with the thought of using the Bible as a travel guide for Greece (with emphasis on the letters of Paul), I introduce to you the following feature...

To "Koine" A Phrase: Perhaps as preamble to all future attempts to use ancient Greek in conversation use 2 Cor. 11:1 (ophelon aneixesthe mou miekron ti aphrosunais alla kie anexesthe mou). Loose translation: "I wish you would endure a little foolishness from me, but, indeed, you endure me."

P.S. The Coffehouse in the photo is "Fair Trade," a cause I support!

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!