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Every now and then I feel a complete urge to rant about the world around me.

This weekend, I was dismayed when I kept hearing that there was a competition brewing between the release of "Sex and the City" and  the second weekend of "Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull."  The reports kept saying SATC was the "women's" movie and they were going to see how it fared compared to "Indiana Jones" a movie dominated by male viewers.  Would men be "dragged" to see SATC as women are "dragged" to see Indiana Jones? 

WHAT?!?   Now, I do not doubt that SATC will ultimately attract mostly women audiences because of the nature of the show (4 lead women characters) and few men will have interest in that movie.   But really, Indiana Jones is a "guys" flick?  The Indiana Jones series is one of my selection of movies of ALL TIME!  No one would ever have to "drag" me to see Indiana Jones, The Bourne Series, Star Wars, National Treasure - type movies.  I kind of assumed those movies appealed to all people....men and women....and never classified them as a guy's equivalent to a "chick flick."  I don't know...that just bothered me.

Then, just a moment ago, I came upon the following snippet about Mark Driscoll regarding his interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:12-14 - According to Driscoll -

Without blushing, Paul is simply stating that when it comes to leading in the church, women are unfit because they are more gullible and easier to deceive than men. While many irate women have disagreed with his assessment through the years, it does appear from this that such women who fail to trust his instruction and follow his teaching are much like their mother Eve and are well-intended but ill-informed. . . Before you get all emotional like a woman in hearing this, please consider the content of the women’s magazines at your local grocery store that encourages liberated women in our day to watch porno with their boyfriends, master oral sex for men who have no intention of marrying them, pay for their own dates in the name of equality, spend an average of three-fourths of their childbearing years having sex but trying not to get pregnant, and abort 1/3 of all babies – and ask yourself if it doesn’t look like the Serpent is still trolling the garden and that the daughters of Eve aren’t gullible in pronouncing progress, liberation, and equality.

Oh my.  Where do I begin with that!?!  Ummmmm, hello, Mr. Driscoll?  Have you not seen the male equivalent of women's magazines on the stand with scantily clad women on their covers and articles that read about male performance, male size and other really "important" matters.  I believe Men are equally gullible as women when it comes to reading material they choose to purchase and read.  PLEASE!

Goodness!  That just makes me so mad.  I would love to exchange words with Mark Driscoll some day.  Maybe take some Mixed Martial Arts classes (MMA) and challenge him to a fight in the octagon. 

For anyone who reads the updates on my Facebook status, it comes as no surprise that I don't get along well with Minnesota weather conditions.  I wish I did.  I wish I was one who could be happy with bare trees and dormant, leafless plants 7 months out of the year.  I wish I could be happy with an 18 degree wind chill at the end of April.  It's not that I am an unhappy person.  It's just in the doldrums of the Winter months, I lament. I lament that I have less energy to do "fun" things in life.  At the brink of every winter, I say to myself:  Danielle, why don't you host a couple parties to help get you through winter!?  Danielle, call and write some old and dear friends and family!  Danielle, hunker down and read some good books!  Danielle, do some of those household projects you want to do!  But I have noticed a sad pattern and that is my intentions remain just that - intentions.  And another pattern emerges:  I am just a way happier person in June, July and August.  I would not say I am depressed or that I suffer from a major case of SAD during winter.  It is just I don't have it in me during the long Minnesota winter months to do anything "extra."  I spend time and have fun with my beloved best friend, JVD, I work hard and have fun at work, I muster any extra motivation to stay "healthy" by exercising.  Aside from things that are "scheduled" in advance on my calendar, I rarely feel compelled to call a friend, arrange an impromptu outing, "do" much of anything on a whim.  The warm summer months transform my attitude and outlook of life.  I feel a swell of energy return just by being able to sit outside in warmth surrounded by green plants and colorful flowers.  I am a happier person when winter ends.  And so defines my love/hate relationship with Minnesota.  Love the "life" it has afforded JVD and I....love the people we have met and befriended....love the work I do here....REALLY love the beauty and fun that comes with the summer months...just wish those months stretched out a lot longer than they do.  And so, I lament this end of April, 2008.  I lament the snow and the cold.  I lament the lack of flora and fauna and the buds that have yet to emerge and bloom.  Oh, how I need a good dose of Spring.