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pigsareflying
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Name: Gena Destri
Gender: Female
Interests: WELDING!!, foreign movies and their soundtracks, painting, drawing, short hair, pigs... especially Olivia the pig, sun tea, being warm, the sun, the human form, people, people watching, women's ministry, playing with babies, talking with jr. high girls who have all their hopes and dreams to discover, talking with old people who have seen all their hopes and dreams come to pass, air, green grass, arizona, red dirt, multi-tasking, shamili from india, camping, hiking, pretty much anything outdoors, mud, feet, dreams, dancing, creating, pouring out my heart and learning to do it unashamedly, smiles, and realizing my Creator is in everything
Occupation: Student
Industry: Art
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  flying7pigs
Member Since:
3/12/2004
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| i just read this on my dear friend katherine's xanga and think it deserves some real attention; i'm going to challenge everyone who thinks this is as ridiculous as i do to go to hobby lobby, buy a $3 t-shirt and sharpie/iron-on transfer, whatever, this tid-bit of information on it:
did you know?
that America spends 18 billion dollars a year on makeup?
and 15 billion on perfume?
and 14 billion dollars would dissolve world hunger as a whole?
and another 14 billion would solve the education problem of the world?
people, why don't we create more awareness of such things in america?
i mean, obviously people like to be ignorant, they don't want to tap into that compassionate side of their soul that god has built into all of his children. but that doesn't mean we quit trying. | | |
| yes, it has been a while, xanga world.
i've been trying to update for the last few weeks due to the promptings from one sarah swiemo, but alas, the energies to post have been lacking. i had yesterday and have today off of work however, and so, with my fingernails painted blue (they don't allow nail polish at my work) i am enjoying life and the energies that come with lots of sleep.
i have found a new fave for musical listening... on itunes under the radio section, if you go to the international music section and scroll down to the first "radioioWorld" selection, i'm sure you will comply with how fantastic i think it is. it makes me want to shake my hips and be very ethnic, but only when no one is watching, or maybe if i still lived in the 2409(2904?) apts. with beka and lindsay and swiemo and allison and michelle, then i would shake my hips and be ethnic with my sweet ladies from obu. yes, i said sweet ladies. and i felt ethnic doing so. so in this moment of being ethnic and listening to world music, i'm thanking the lord for wireless internet.
i have come to the realization that life is real. i am not part of a novel or a movie and so therefore, when certain events happen, or when one big event comes to a close, it's not over, it doesn't have an end until i end. like, when i find true love, the story will not end, the credits do not role b/c the pursuit and romance was all that was worth telling the world about. it still goes on to begin a new adventure. i think sometimes we (i mean "I") have a hard time being happy and letting that happiness carry out and blossom into something more b/c in the movies or just in media in general that we're presented with, we (and again i mean "I") get the impression that everything is fantastically worth watching and being fantasized about as long as there is a journey, a struggle, an uphill climb that's lavished with obstacles of fantastic dramatic decisions and opportunities, but when the battle is won, the choice has been made, the smiles are covering all of their faces, the story ends. so, what, then the story all of a sudden becomes normal, every day, and you blend into the crowd and buzz of normalcy. that's the kind of life i fight against, so why in the heck would i ever choose the life of happiness or love? b/c isn't that the end?
in all honesty, this might have all stemmed from the single movie "b/c i said so" with mandy moore. haha, i know, sad right?
but still, it's led me to fight for the reality of life and what the true consequences of things are and how my decisions truly do and will affect those around me and those in my life previously/currently. especially my decisions on where i live and travel and for how long.
my mom is losing her job/retiring in a couple of weeks after working there for freaking 32 years... pray for her to seize the day and know that our god is god! he is going to use her in great and numerous ways i believe. :)
my dad is opening a hair salon next to his vet clinic called "2 brunettes and a blonde", it's super cute and next to a dance studio so should be fairly successful... i hope... and he cut off his ponytail b/c he lost a bet, or so i hear. he said he's going to sew it into one of his "do-rags" so that when he rides his motorcycles he can still have "the look". that's my dad.
i love growing up i think. but only when family realizes that i'm growing up, it kinda sucks when i try to and then they shoot me down.
i have a great anticipation in my heart for what is next.
my lease is up in june here in austin and i doubt i'll be staying here... it's just in me to move. will it always be like this?
"I love the Lord b/c He hears my voice and my supplications.
B/c He has inclined His ear to me, therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live." ~Psalm 116:1-2
what can stand against the word of god? have joy and take heart! :) | | |
| i just consolidated my student loans. yuck, i sucks being "grown-up". so, come dec. 1st, i will hopefully be moved to austin. i've never really liked texas, it's never been a huge desire of my heart, but austin is cool, and it's close to some that i love, unlike lonely arizona. so, decision made, i'm not second guessing myself and am just going to live in the redemption of christ and let him blow me wherever i need to be. don't get me wrong, i'm not going to just sit around hoping god will do something with my life, but i think it's time i stopped doubting the love god has for me and trust him. really trust him, with everything. including my heart and the plans i had set for my life. because somehow i think god's plans are going to be way way way better. and tons more fulfilling and exciting. so bring 'em on! lately my heart has been made raw by the new found love and redemption i have remembered in christ. it's so crazy how easily things that seem so basic are forgotten. have you forgotten that we serve a constant god? he is litterally constantly redeeming us, and constantly loving us. he is not of this world and so therefore does not act according to the world.... he is constant. I have been reading brennan manning's abba's child recently and thought i would include a part he quoted from mike yaconelli that hit me really amazingly: "it took only a few hours of silence before i began to hear my soul speaking. it only took being alone for a short period of time for me to discover i wasn't alone. god had been trying to shout over the noisiness of my life, and i couldn't hear him. but is the stillness and solitude his whispers shouted from my soul, 'michael, i am here. i have been calling you, but you haven't been listening. can you har me, michail? i love you. i have always loved you. and i have been waiting for you to hear me say that to you. BUT YOU HAVE BEEN SO BUSY TRYING TO PROVE TO YOURSELF YOU ARE LOVED THAT YOU HAVE NOT HEARD ME.' i heard him, and my slumbering soul was filled with the joy of the prodigal son. my soul was awakened by a loving father who had been looking and waiting for me. finally, i accepted my brokenness... i had never come to terms with that. let me explain. i knew i was broken. i knew i was a sinner. i knew i continually disappointed god, but i could never accept that part of me. it was a part of me that embarrassed me. i continually felt the need to apologize, to run from my weaknesses, TO DENY WHO I WAS AND CONCENTRATE ON WHAT I SHOULD BE. i was broken, yes, but i was continually trying never to be broken again - or at least to get to the place where i was very seldom broken... it became very clear to me that i had totally misunderstood the christian faith. i came to see that it was in my brokenness, in my powerlessness, in my weakness that jesus was made strong. it was in the acceptance of my lack of faith that god could give me faith. it was in the embracing of my brokenness that i could identify with others' brokenness. it was my role to identify with others' pain, not relieve it. ministry was sharing, not dominating; understanding, not theologizing; caring, not fixing." i know, some of it seems so basic, but honestly, how many of you have forgotten the basics as i have? and yes, some of you may argue that doesn't god want to heal us and make us whole in him though? i think that's true, but we are not broken in one phase of life and then healed in the next, it's a daily provision that god has given us, not meant to put those broken phases behind us, but to let him heal us every single broken day and then start anew in that provision the next day again. b/c he uses that. sorry if i got kinda preachy there, i just couldn't stop! | | |
| so, i'm in arizona, and it's not as much fun as you think. see, this is not a trip for fun; for recreation like climbing, hiking, camping, or even biking. no, this is war. this is an all-out struggle for victory in the job hunt. now, i am looking arizona cities sqare in the eyes to see if any of them could embrace me, could help me, could challenge me. whew, it's scary. it's a big world out there! it's also a struggle to figure out if it sucks to be doing this alone, or if it's me just not really embracing this independence that's in front of me, and wanting to embrace someone else instead.
i felt like some things clicked pretty well yesterday when i drove through sedona and then cottonwood and then up to jerome... this sweet city which is built literally on the side of a mountain. i got warm welcome and encouragement from one of my favorite galleries near sedona - not to put my art there, but to simply work there. and then the manager of starbucks in sedona already wanted to set up an interview w/ me on sunday! and jerome, well, it's just awesome, and the people are friendly, all either local and dreaming, or those who have dreamed as i am dreaming and are still maybe suffering from their "going for it" attitudes, but extremely happy and nostalgic. and they have this artist guild there where all the artists take turn showcasing their work and lots of studios are for rent. the cool thing about this growing art community is that they are trying to create an environment that thrives on not selling out to that which the average tourist buys into. i like that. that was one of the aspects of art that has been/is majorly discouraging me in my pursual of art... i will not sell out. even if i don't make a dime, i will not sell out to popular demand. thus, starbucks, you may be my employer for a unknown time (if they like me) for i like your coffee, and i like the sound of your benefits which i sadly need and can't receive from my local mom&pop shops.
flagstaff: unwelcoming, too many "granolas". they all are doing whatever the heck they want and don't give a crap what the heck you are doing b/c they're doing whatever the heck they want to do. so, all in all, when it comes down to it, it's intimidating. i went in many stores expecting to talk to someone about possibly working there, but alas, their power crystals and new age auras cut down my enthusiasm without even giving it a chance. plus, major collge towns have heard it all before and the struggling students don't really want to help get a new face a job when they're already looking out for their friends. however, i did get a good vibe from these 2 girls in a little boutique and they told me to go check out a little drive-thru coffee place, Wicked, where the boss truely was wicked, in the not cool way, but if you gave him attitude back, it wasn't too bad. anyway, they're hiring and possibly fantastic tips and the manager there was really enthusiastic about getting a resume from me after talking with her for a while. i love the mountains here way more than i love the red rock in sedona. i am a changed woman after all. maybe it was the pine trees that did it, the faithfulness that is shown in their growth and endurance. so, we'll see.
be praying for guidance and discernment! i spilt my coffee in the northern arizona univ. library and didn't clean it up. paper towels no where to be found. hmmm, i feel ok with that though i think. i picked up a book on cacti and other succulents and on oceanic sculpture. i may post pictures later when i remember my camera connector cord. | | |
| so i love driving in rain and then seeing it turn into snow, then snow that's actually accumulating and building up on the sides of the roads and weighing down the pine tree boughs. and then seeing all your old tourist passengers turn into little kids by starting snow ball fights and giggling and men getting "frisky" with their wives to "help them keep from falling on the snowy sidewalks and mountain side pullouts"  i love life here - but will be loving going home soon as well. thanks for being so great friends and making me feel loved at all moments throughout this summer. the lord is so good and i will keep on rejoicing in his goodness and creation and sovereigness! amen! | | |
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