couch surfing... i'm so about this!!

Posted by Teen Bean

so i pretty much have become obsessed with this idea of couch surfing.... the idea was unveiled to me by a friend, Coen, who is visiting the ol' America's from Amsterdam- land. While making his way through Seattle, we were able to share a happy and sunny Saturday together...


now this dude is hard... like, "i eat nails" hard. He is here visiting America for 3 months... with ONE BACK PACK to his name. He has no intention of paying for any sort of transportation while he is here... no no, he is solely relying on hitch hiking and his own two feet to get up and down the west coast... (i'm telling you now, this has Saw V written all over it!). Everything he needs is packed tightly away in a ridiculously oblong back pack and at night, when this highly independent individual needs a place to sleep... he finds it... on the couch of a complete stranger!!

how you ask!?? ah the power of the inter-web! www.couchsurfing.com ... that magical address hands you the entire world... Seattle alone has over 900 people who have registered their couches as free for the booking.... just hit up the area of town you want to see... zip an e-mail over to said "couch possessor" and bam you find yourself catching the comfy wave of "Couch Surfing".

this idea absolutely connects with me... more people need to get behind this idea... could you imagine if every body... every where let their couches (how ever many they own) be used for couch surfing!?!? would we have any homeless people in the world!?! As Coen and i had many a heavy conversation about the state of the church, the economy, heck... the world, i became completely fascinated by this idea of couch surfing... 900 COUCHES IN SEATTLE ALONE!! that would take me over 3 YEAR to surf through just the couches in Seattle... and that is if i moved ever night! most places will let you stay 3 or 4 days! How long could one couch surf!?!?

there is something in this i tell you... something big! i'm not sure what, but this knowledge could change the world as we know it...this kind of networking... this raw power... i'm telling you, this could be used to end loads of world pain... if only i could figure out how... hell i think i just want to give it try!!!

3 comments »

my stress in coming out in a very odd manner!!

Posted by Teen Bean

so i don't get it... but sense moving here to seattle i have developed the oddest twitch... when i start to get really stressed and ahhhhhh i find myself mercilessly scratching my left arm... right at the joint that connects your fore arm to your upper arm... its so strange...


when i finally became aware of this odd reaction to stress, i tried to put a stop to it... and now i notice that when i am stressed that part of my arm will just burn... and turn red (before any scratching as occurred!!)... and then i have to scratch it!! so yeah...

basically what i am hoping is that by the end of this seattle experience i still have an arm and it isn't just a nubbin'... cuz how feaking sad would that be... "oh yeah i went to grad school in seattle... scratched my arm right off..."

plus how would i eat with chop sticks!!?!?!? oh yah... prolly the same way i do now... with my right hand...

ok... i still have massive amounts of reading and writing to do and the night is still young... ahhh there goes my arm again all flaring up...

why do i have to be so weird!?!?!

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so maybe it was spiritual!

Posted by Teen Bean

ha ha!


so i did go to the club the other night... after an inspiring conversation that not only made me happier about life in general, but also add two very hot dance moves to my repertoire, i decided i need to make the most of my friday night. in reality i had decided to go to a movie (ahh 'cloudy with a chance of meatballs', looks famous!) ... but i couldn't find the cinema, ha ha they moved it swear, so i just parked up the car and decided i would find a place to get a drink. it was totally self motivated and self serving this night, but you know how sometimes God just uses something to remind you why you dream?

so there i was bar #1, rum and coke chillaxing by the pool table.... all i could think about was the good time we had over the last year... two good friends from england, James and Charl have an epic pool game story that will forever be in my mind (wow two of the most competitive souls ever! not to mention another brilliant pool game where steve and i totally dominated.. well we won.. lets just say that) but yeah i was there and it was cool to see the groups of people just gettin down and having a good time, but their was something i was suppose to learn that night.

i finished my rum and coke and got a little board, so decided to move on to location #2. As i was walking the streets, people here and there, falling all over themselves, God just kept whispering "what are you gunna do?" I was like "what do you mean what am i gunna do? i'm gunna go get a drink!"

i didn't know where i was going or what i wanted. i just followed the mass of drunk people! they all were entering this strange building, going down a hall, and behind a black curtain... it only cost 5 bucks so i joined them! ahhh heaven (well at least a small slice!) they had a dj cranking it up... and then this random rap crew tore it up... it was immense and the whole time i just found myself lost in praying for these people. you could tell they were good people, that they wanted good to happen, that they wanted to have a good time. and i just kept thinking? God what if you got ahold of this!?!? what if all these incredibly beautiful and talented people were doing this for your glory? and then my sweet jesus whispered "show them how"...

ha ha so i did. right there, just me, with drunks on my right and rappers on my left. I just worshiped jesus and gave him the glory! I finished my rum and coke, said one final prayer over the group and left them in Gods hands.

the whole time i walked back to my car, God just said "see its simple... just live for me... i'll do the rest!" ha ha i still did start thinking what a massive opportunity I have to reach out to people on nights like that ... incredible... and I'm so excited to get involved! ahh i love the club... its where i dream!!!

oh and the dance moves so payed off... good thing i practiced before i left! wink wink!

1 comments »

i wanna go to the club!

Posted by Teen Bean

there is no spiritual aspect to this.


3 week people.

3 weeks i have been the ever dedicated student. 3 weeks i have been the responsible employee. 3 weeks i have kept it together... i'm very proud of this. but who am i? work. school. read. sleep. repeat!?!? i've spent more time indoors doing what is expect of me... and it has been amazing! props to those who keep there shtuff together... it does pay off. but BUT all of today i paced. like a large tiger. in a small cage. I NEED RELEASE!!! the hermit in me must go on strike! i'm not this person... i can't do this. I don't do staying in very well! i mean its been fine for 3 weeks, but i'm finding that is my limit. 3 weeks, then i need to just stop and put everything that is anything on the back burner and just remember that living is about just doing!

i must find a club. I must have fun. I must go out!!!

so i am.

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Just Live It!

Posted by Teen Bean

i am sitting here in my new living room... walls bare white from lack there of any home decor and an empty bag of grapes on the floor from last nights random strike of hunger. I was trying to decide how to catch everyone up on what a going on in my life... and really i just don't have words to explain any of it. in someways i feel that if i start i could never stop!!


i think in my past, i had a bad habit of viewing the world as a glass half empty of possibilities. As i've lived these passed couple of years, i've been really challenged with coming at life this way. I love being a rebel. conforming actually sucks life out of me. But i realized a while back that just because i don't want to conform doesn't me i also have to be a hater. I think, it was during one of the teaching days i had while in england, that the wise guru alanadan made a loaded statement about how we can't just come at issues we don't agree with by pointing out all the negativity that we think or feel about it. They challenged us to be smarter than that. They told us that, its easy to just pick apart issues and scream about all the reasons why they are not going to work or how they suck. The hard part is coming up with positive, constructive way of encouraging and working out a way to work with what you got. I realized what an attitude of the heart this is because it actually really takes me loving that person to disagree with them. I've been really practicing this or at least trying.

i'm really not sure why i told you that, but i think it has to do with how my heart has been changing over this last year. Especially over this last summer. It really takes strength to live in the love christ calls us to, but i think i'm doing it. ha ha but it doesn't even feel like me, more like christ in me.

I hit the ground running here in seattle and have found it beyond manageable... hell of a busy schedule, but manageable. I keep wonder... "ok, life is really good... when the sh** gunna start!?!" But it hasn't, ever day just gets better. I wondered if i should start worrying about that... maybe spend some prayer time preparing for the crap... but then i just forgot. And the other day i randomly realized i hadn't worried about life or living in a while and God just stepped right in and was like "Good... leave that to me, Tina your life isn't a cup half full, i've made it overflowing for a reason... so flow for me!" ha ha and in that moment i realized i'm so done being that person that lives life half full... my life is so good... and i give God all the glory for that.

A big thank you to everyone who has been praying for me. So many times this year i was out and about in seattle doing things normally that would stress me out and i would just be right in the middle of doing them and realize how i was just in this place and filled with a crazy amount of peace... and i knew someone was praying for me! those prayers are changing and strengthening me... yeh!

which brings me to say, i just love knowing there is someone out there that loves me and is thinking of me and praying for me. It builds me up in a way i just can't live with out. and even if we are uber far apart, i just love that because of who God is, that we can be closer then ever through prayer. it makes me experience love in the deepest way, and through that live and be the truest form of me. its like a fairytale wink wink!


2 comments »

oopps my bad!!!

Posted by Teen Bean

my real new address is this one....


5520 108th Ave NE
mailbox # 172
Kirkland, Wa
98033

sorry there was a little mix up in addresses... there is a sign in our apt that has our apt address on it... but that is only for when we call 911... no mail is delivered to our physical address... it all goes to the school mail building which is listed above and we collect it from our little box!

so, if in the random event, you did send me some mail already... don't worry it should still make it to me.. because they should recognize that i obviously live on campus and they might take it to the mail building... but if they don't you might get it returned to you in the mail. if that is the case... just resend it to this address and i promise this time i will get it!

*side note: completely unrelated to mail... today, by far, has been one of the best days ever! its good to be alive!

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forget your shoes!

Posted by Teen Bean

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.

It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.
when the sun comes up, you better start running.

~ African Proverb

1 comments »

the school, the saint, the servant

Posted by Teen Bean

Sometimes i refer to life as a journey; a winding path that weaves its way in and out of life situations, up and down life experiences, around and through life adventures. I find myself often pulling out the map of my life and carefully spreading it out on the table and plotting which situations i will go through, which life experiences i want to have, what life adventures i want to go on...


In those moments of planning, life seems so clear. Its like I'm standing at the top of a mountain looking down the winding road; seeing ever turn, ever bridge, every rest point... and eventually my end destination. In those moments I confidently fold up my map, shove it in my back pocket and then with a deep breath i take my first step off the mountain top into my life. But then i find, when i'm walking the road, its hard to see what's really around the next bend, or know the conditions of the bridges i'm going to cross, or remember the distance between each rest... or even why i'm journeying in the first place!

when i'm in my journey, it seems like all i really understand is the point of the journey i am presently at. What my feet are walking on, what my eyes are seeing, what my nose is smelling, what my ears are hearing... they takes all my focus. weather this is good or bad i have yet to really understand, but one positive about living this way is, the joy of being surprised as i walk on my life journey....

one such moment happened yesterday. I had my first day of Grad School yesterday. I rocked up to my first class sporting ripped jeans, a black t-shirt stating "i heart what's his face", and a gehtto tipped hat, because that be where it at! my casual wear was a stark contrast to the ultra conservative and professional wear of my classmates... i was glad.

I slipped into the back of the classroom and started feeling more and more out of place as properly dressed, after properly primped, after properly engaged student walked in the classroom. I wondered where i had brought myself and if i was really into this.

i sat there judging them and this life I voluntarily had entered. But then, slowly, I learned their names, heard their stories, caught sight of the vision. I was absolutely blown away by how right this is for me. The attitude of my fellow students, the openness of my professors, the blending of God in study... it is like nothing i have ever experienced before...

and then the kicker. in the middle of the talk the speaker throws up a picture of Saint Francis...
and i had to stop and chuckle... this saint flippin follows me where ever I go... weather i am doing discipleship in england, to volunteering with homeless youth in minneapolis, to studying in seattle... stories of who he was and what he did seem to find me.... and whisper his life story into my life dream.

a man lead by the voice of God that called out to him saying "Go and build up my house for it is nearly falling down" ... a man willing to surrender his all to help the poor and the hurt. a man on a journey... He modeled his life after our christ which gives it this glow that just attracts me. The famous words of Saint Francis prayer were read to me last night and like a road sign, again, surprised and reminded me fully what i am about and what lies ahead...

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace;
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
grant that i may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love;
for it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen

journey on!

0 comments »

New Address

Posted by Teen Bean

Right right


so here is my new address:

5310 113th Place N.E.
Kirkland, Wa
98033
USA

i love getting mail... so feel free!! wink!

also went and bought books today. it was one of the first times i went and spent money on textbooks where i actually am interested in reading... maybe this grad school plan wasn't such a bad idea!

my mind will be wrapped around the following text for the next semester

1. Cultures and organizations: Software for the mind. Hofstede, G and Hofstede, G.J.

2. The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first centry. Friedman, T.L.

3. Justice: Rights and wrongs. Walterstorff, N.

4. Publications Manual of the APA. American Psychological Association

I also spend a big chunk of time yesterday at my new employer Everygreen Hospital... giving blood, having my wee drug tested, and taking a color blind test.

And the best news of the week... I found a shop called THE BRITISH PANTRY... they sell beans and tea!!! home isn't so far away after all! the lady that owns it is from the midlands... i just go talk to her whenever i get a bit home sick!

love it!
bean

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