Unbelievable

Is it really almost summer time? Land of graduates...children running the streets...summer vacations and swimming pools? It can't be....I am too tired, too broke, and too busy for it really to be summer time already. It seems like just yesterday that it was Winter. I seriously can't believe it. I have finals next week...and my Senior thesis is due....I can't believe it...unbelievable

Avon....From a Softhearted Hardhead

Check this out! I am going to do a little personal promotion today. I am an Avon representative. I have an e-business selling avon. Please Visit my website: http://www.youravon.com/courtneymorris
You can all buy avon online, from me...and have it sent directly to you! I will post specials on my blog frequently, to try and convince people to drop by...so keep an eye out...if you get a chance.

Why buy Avon?
By the end of 2006, total Avon philanthropy worldwide will have raised and awarded more than $500 million for initiatives and organizations of vital importance to women. Voted "a most trusted brand" on three continents, Avon was also selected by Businessweek as one of "The Top 100 global Brands" and honored as one of Fortune magazine's "50 Best companies for Minorities."

Further, Avon was one of the first cosmetic and personal hygeine companies to pledge a no "animal' testing policy. None of Avon's products are ever tested on any of our animal friends.

The Avon Foundation is an accredited 501(c)(3) public charity in the US that was founded in 1955 to improve the lives of women and their families. Now past the half century mark, the Avon Foundation brings this mission to life through two key areas of focus: the fight against breast cancer and support for women's empowerment, including economic advancement and the issue of domestic violence, and more than 300 grants area awarded each year for these important causes.

The flagship programs are the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade, which works to advance access to care and finding a cure; and Speak Out Against Domestic Violence, focused on ending the cycle of domestic violence, with a special focus on children. Avon is proudly the largest corporate supporter of the breast cancer cause, with programs in 50 countries, and the commitment to domestic violence is growing.

Avon and the Avon Foundation also respond quickly to national and international emergencies, raising funds and providing support for women and famiiles affected by incidents such as the attacks of September 11, 2001; the tsunami in Southeast Asia; Hurricanes Rita and Katrina; and the military conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Funds are raised through a variety of events, such as the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer series, and the sale of special fundraising products by Avon Sales Representatives. In 2006, the combined global philanthropy of Avon and the Avon Foundation reached an extraordinary milestone: more the $500 million raised and awarded.
More information is available at www.foundation.org.

Why buy Avon from me?
I am a new representative. I am a University student...trying the self-empolyed thing in order to help out with high gas prices and school costs. I will do whatever I can to make sure everything works out for you. Trust me when I say Avon brand is one of the best from cosmetics, clothes and cologne to tools, toys and trifles.

Is there a difference?

Is being lonely and alone the same thing? Have you ever really been alone....in the depths of solitude and heard the sound of the air seeping in and out of your lungs? The sound of the hair brushing your cheek? Or maybe your stuck in the brush of cellphones, TVs and car alarms.

Yet, one can be so lonely in the middle of a crowd. You can be talking and the life of a party and yet, in your heart, you fill as though the room is empty and your sitting in the center. I've battled bouts of loneliness my entire life. Not depression really, but I feel as though at times I am trapped between two worlds and belong in neither one. My family and friends have a hard time really grasping the significance of such an oddity. They say "your not alone," but they really don't understand the distinction between the terms.

Being alone is fine, actually at times I believe the human person craves aloneness to clear the mind and reinvigorate the soul....Loneliness on the other hand is toxic....it leads one down roads of darkness. Loneliness leads to bitterness, pain and sorrow...How do you cultivate aloneness and do away with loneliness...I'm in process...but here are my thoughts:

You learn about yourself....Therefore...I guess you could call my life a soul journey...My University education, my jobs, the books I read, the religions I investigate...my own personal relation with God...all a soul journey to discover the root of loneliness so that I can embrace aloneness.....serving others...I learn to better appreciate the self I was dealt....I walk the line...the line between alone and lonely...I may walk alone....but beside each and everyone of you out there...I am not lonely although there are times when this illusion rises to the surface...walk through the dark...you are the light...I walk through the darkness and embrace the light....for me...loneliness has become a muse for discovering my negatives and positives...although I travel through the valley of the shadows I shall fear no evil...for before me stands my soul...and it is....

Loneliness may actually be a blessing in disguise that has taught me more than any other teacher...but it took aloneness to learn that loneliness isn't as terrible as it seems.

Goodnight Cyberspace....Be good to your fellow human...remember he or she must wear the same skin...metaphorically speaking of course?

Literary Tag...

This is a first for me too...Dragonraid. Here goes:

The rules
1. Pick up the nearest book.
2. Open to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people

My first go:
Nearest Book: I and Thou

5th sentence: "The innate You is actualized each time without ever being perfected."

3 next sentences: "It attains perfection solely in the immediate relationship to the You that in accordance with its nature cannot become an It. Men have addressed their eternal You by many names. When they sang out what they had thus named, they still meant You: the first myths were hymns of praise."

Lets give it another try:
2nd Nearest Book: Miss Marple The Complete Short Stories...by my favorite author Dame Agatha Christie...mmmm

5th sentence: "Yes, it was rather tough luck on Miss Barton-or Miss Amy Durant-whatever you like to call her.

3 next sentences: I became a ship's doctor for a while, and landing in Melbourne, the first person I saw as I walked down the street was the lady I thought had been drowned in Cornwall. Shew saw the game was up as far as I was concerned, and she did the bold thing-took me into her confidence. A curious woman, completely lacking, I suppose, in some moral sense."

Tag your it:
Poetitkat
Mr. Stark
Maxxo
Shemley
...to be continued

Check out my links list to find their blogs...they are well worth the read...all very entertaining personalities.

The Truth..Through Relation

Martin Buber was an “Austrian-Jewish theologian and philosopher” influenced by Hasidism (a Jewish mystical movement) in Eastern Europe. Buber went through this scenario, having a vision he originally interpreted as a mystical union with God. Buber later reinterprets his vision to be more in line with traditional Jewish understandings of relation with God. From Buber’s experiences he wrote “I and Thou” to ruminate his theological and philosophical ethic of relation and dialogue (a product of his reflection on his experience). Through experience with this religion Buber forms a relational ethic towards God and Human relations. Buber views God and Human’s as being in a mutual dialogue of I-thou relation. This I-thou relation helps complete creation. Maurice Friedman clarifies Buber’s ideas: “If God did not need man, if man were simply dependent and nothing else, there would be no meaning to man’s life or to the world. ‘The world is not divine sport, it is divine destiny.’”

The Eternal Thou needs humans for relation and existence. For Buber all human I-Thou relation culminates in the Eternal Thou. The Eternal Thou instills grace through which all other I-Thou relation is possible. Buber insists “extended lines of relations meet in the eternal Thou.” Buber characterizes all relational I-thous between humans are in one sense fodder for the fire of divine relation. With each I-thou relation we get “a glimpse through to the eternal Thou.” Therefore, humans may access the divine by entering into the relational I-thous where “the primary word addresses the eternal Thou.” Buber sees God in every human being and the ultimate gift of God is a mutuality of dialogue in I-thou relation where the eternal Thou allows the “inborn Thou” to be realized. The “inborn Thou” is God’s presence inside of humanity allowing man to use the primary world I-thou and rise above the I-It world.

Martin Buber utilizes dialogue symbolism to highlight the inherent important of I-Thou relation to expose God’s need of humanity to fulfill existence. The I-Thou relation creates a conversation between God and people. Think of God speech as happening “solely alongside or above the everyday.” Yet, God’s speech “penetrates” all of the world, life, history and present. God’s speech transforms all importance into “instruction, message, demand” for humanity. Buber insists all life and events is a confrontation urging man to make a choice in the world of how to relate. Thereby all life and events are “enabled and empowered by the personal speech of God to demand of the human person that he take his stand and make his decision.” This demand on the human person to make a decision deals with the complex need of God for humanity. As Buber continually asserts all real existence is relation. God’s existence is contingent upon the relation of humanity. True existence and relation is fulfilled by God and given by God to the mutual benefit of both parties. Such a need of God is not arbitrary or limiting. God self-imposes this need on himself to allow for mutuality, relation and existence. Buber passionately insists I-Thou relation fulfils Human existence, calling humans to share mutuality with God to “speak of it, bears witness[to], and calls to witness him to whom he speaks—whether that witness is now or in the future” of God’s existence.

Just a recipe for all those Cheesecake Lovers...

Extremely Delicious...give it a shot. Make it let it set over night have a piece for breakfast the next morning with a deep dark cup of strong coffee. MMMMM...Que Magnific!

Sicilian Ricotta Cheesecake
INGREDIENTS
2 pounds whole milk ricotta cheese , drain in cheesecake
2/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
6 eggs
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons orange zest or lemon zest
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt or instead of cinnamon, orange zest and vanilla use 1/3 cup amaretto

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Set rack in the middle of the oven. Butter and flour a 9 1/2 inch springform pan, and tap out excess flour.
Place the ricotta in a large mixing bowl, and stir it as smooth as possible with a rubber spatula. Stir the sugar and flour together thoroughly into the ricotta. Stir in the eggs 1 at a time. Blend in the vanilla, cinnamon, orange zest, and salt. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
Bake in the center of the oven for about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, until a light golden color. Make sure the center is fairly firm, and the point of a sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. It will sink slightly as it cools. Cover, and chill till serving time.