I created a Yahoo avatar. I think it's "Me"...

Merry Christmas!

This is my cat
"Miss Thang" wishing you a Merry Christmas!

This is a good pic of me relieved after our Christmas cantata:

Hi from Sheila!

Thanksgiving 2005. Notice my corn pin. I'm corny!

100 Things about Me

1. I am a Christian since 1999, after searching for truth through my 20's. I plan to make a list of "why I am a Christian".
2. I think many non-Christians are more real and nicer than many Christians I know. But hey, Christians aren't perfect, just forgiven.
3. I have degrees in music education and piano performance.
4. I did not decide to major in music until my senior year of high school.
5. I majored in music because I wanted to learn to play the piano like the students I heard when I visited the college.
6. I also majored in music because I felt it would give me a variety of career options- music director of a church, piano teacher, community theatre, college teaching, accompanist, K-12 music teacher.
7. I consider myself to be a deep and self-aware person.
8. I have a very large, generous, all-encompassing sense of humor.
9. I will laugh at many many humor attempts by people and comedians.
10. I have a black cat named Miss Thang.
11. I had a gray cat named Sasha for 15 years.
12. She was 20 yrs old when she died. I wrote a poem about her when she died.
13. I have only written about 6 poems in my life, mostly when I am extremely emotional.
14. I would like to learn web design and computer programming, but have NO background in this whatsoever.
15. I love everything Bill Murray ever did.
16. I get intensely indignant about the people at my work that are Christians, yet treat me and other co-workers with dominance and disrespect.
17. I love the 70's.
18. I just got a condo in August 2005. It's 2 bedroom 1 bath.
19. My second bedroom is an office and I have it decorated with 70's stuff- Star Wars poster, flower lights, etc.
20. I ordered Disco Fever tapes off the TV in 1990. It was the first thing I ordered in the mail. This was before disco came "back" in the mid-90's.
21. I am 34 years old.
22. My favorite foods are shrimp, chocolate, strawberries, and quiche.
23. I rarely eat any of these except chocolate, which I have every day.
24. I have shrimp about once a month, try to have it when I go out to eat.
25. I used to read a lot as a child. I would walk down the school hallway with a book in my hand.
26. All my friends have great senses of humor.
27. I feel "understood" when I read certain Christian writers (or many other writers).
28. I also feel "understood" when I take in most forms of comedy.
29. I have an ideal system of organization in my head but not in real life.
30. I wonder if I was really organized how much I could get done and what new directions I could go.
31. I had a clinical depression in 1995 when my first job of teaching high and middle school music didn't work out.
32. I felt like I had worked hard all my life for nothing.
33. Being both a sensitive musician and drill-sargeant to the kids were opposing qualities which I did not possess both of.
34. Sorry for the grammar there.
35. I have about 150 videotapes, many of which are not labeled.
36. Most of the non-labeled ones contain Saturday Night Live episodes.
37. I would love to edit them and keep only the things I want off of them onto a DVD.
38. In 1993 I consciously decided that I needed a "hobby", because I didn't naturally have any hobbies.
39. I decided this because I spent all my time working (=practicing piano), and didn't know what to do with myself for recreation.
40. I picked Harrison Ford as my hobby- learning about him, collecting pictures.
41. I went to the library and looked up articles from the research article big books on him, photocopied them, and made a file folder for it.
42. I did many other things associated with that, but don't want to waste a disproportionate number of lines on my little hobby phase.
43. Now my hobby is surfing the web.
44. As of now (12-2-05), I am addicted to reading these 100 things lists on blogs.
45. I would like to put some more personal details about my relationships with family and friends (would be more interesting and revealing), but not sure who will see this blog.
46. I like getting Christmas ornaments as presents and souvenirs.
47. I dislike the quality of being cheap or miserly.
48. I actually did learn to play the piano well in college as was my goal.
49. I understand music deeply. I appreciate this about myself. It's partly from talent, partly from training.
50. I have a highly analytical mind.
51. Despite this, emotion rules in my life, usually.
52. I have had some drama in my life, but not as much as many people.
53. But some people I know think I have had too much.
54. I think passion is a waste unless it's a passion for Jesus Christ (i.e. eternal things).
55. I can't stand snobbery or pretentiousness.
56. My favorite season is summer.
57. I like summer because I love it being light till 9 PM.
58. I was physically fit 2 years ago and it was great. I'm not now and I'm not sure why. It did take up a lot of time.
59. My favorite color is red.
60. My mom did not let us watch cartoons on Saturday mornings.
61. We ate breakfast and she made a list of chores to be completed during the day which she assigned to each of us.
62. They usually took til 6 PM to do.
63. I was raised with such a work ethic that, if my mom came down the stairs and saw someone sitting around on the couch, she would get tense and obviously want you to "do" something.
64. In high school, my routine after coming home from school was take a nap, watch a 30 minute SCTV, eat dinner, talk on the phone with various friends, then do homework till 1 or 2 AM.
65. Since I got good grades, my parents let me keep this routine.
66. I was valedictorian of my high school.
67. Once I found I was in the running, I tried hard to get the grades and be it.
68. I've since learned that being valedictorian doesn't get you much.
69. I believed the lie that if you made good grades you would be successful.
70. I believe that having a deep inherent interest in what you are doing is more of a predictor of success than anything else.
71. I don't think it's worth the investment of energy to get into a subject if it doesn't serve an eternal purpose.
72. I would love to be more of a humanitarian but I'm not sure quite how to go about it.
73. My day job is sucking my brain, but I need the $ and insurance.
74. I have large tonsils. They are still in.
75. I have straight teeth because the orthodontist did a great job and I wore my retainer every night from 8th grade through college.
76. I dental floss every night. I say it's my one good habit.
77. I like intelligent men.
78. I don't get a whole lot of male attention.
79. Is this perhaps a mixed blessing?
80. It is my belief that most people don't think through their belief systems.
81. I think that people are inherently not logical, and that atheists and agnostics have emotional not rational reasons for being the way they are.
82. I believe that those who use rational thinking as their god are leaving out common sense.
83. I believe that there is obviously a non-rational world out there that doesn't operate by those rules.
84. I wish that Americans would turn off their sitcoms and realize that this whole world is in need of redemption.
85. Starting with their own hearts.
86. It's very obvious to me that there is good and evil in the world, and in own people's hearts, including my own.
87. It is very difficuly for me to switch from doing one activity to doing another activity.
88. I am on the cell phone an average of 2 hours per day.
89. I have met Weird Al 4 times.
90. I was intimidated by meeting him.
91. He was kind of aloof, but his drummer is warm and a people person.
92. I've flown to Boston, Cleveland, Denver, Salt Lake City, Russia, and Israel
93. I worked 3 summers in Black Mountain NC at a YMCA conference center.
94. I want badly to go to Paris and Vienna.
95. I used to be very friendly with people that were outcasts in school.
96. I don't have cable TV.
97. CD is the furthest music technology I have gotten to.
98. I think participation is the key for people appreciating good music.
99. My 40 yr old brother died almost 2 years ago by suicide from a bad anti-depressant drug interaction.
100. Though we were not close, I am still getting over it.

Check out this cool personality test:

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion |||||||||||||| 60% Stability |||||| 26% Orderliness |||||| 30% Altruism |||||||||||||| 56% Interdependence |||||||||||||||| 63% Intellectual |||||||||||||||||| 76% Mystical |||||||||||||||||||| 83% Artistic |||||||||||||||||| 76% Religious |||||||||||||||||||| 90% Hedonism |||| 16% Materialism |||||||||||||| 56% Narcissism |||||||||||||| 56% Adventurousness |||||||||||||||| 63% Work ethic |||||| 30% Self absorbed |||||||||||||||||| 76% Conflict seeking |||||||||||||||| 63% Need to dominate |||||||||||||| 56% Romantic |||||||||||||||| 63% Avoidant |||||||||| 36% Anti-authority |||||||||||||| 56% Wealth |||||| 30% Dependency |||||||||||||||| 63% Change averse |||||||||||||| 56% Cautiousness |||||||||||||||| 70% Individuality |||||||||||||||| 70% Sexuality |||||||||||||||||||| 90% Peter pan complex |||||||||||||||||| 76% Physical security |||||||||||||||| 63% Physical Fitness |||| 17% Histrionic |||||||||||||||| 70% Paranoia |||||||||||||||| 70% Vanity |||||||||||||| 56% Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||||||||| 83% Female cliche |||||||||||||||| 70%

Take Free Advanced Global Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

I created a blog to make fun of my friend David. It's http://davidtheevilelf.blogspot.com .

If you see it, let me know what you think of it.

Me Laughing this Summer:

Self-description

I am soft-hearted, sensitive, and easily moved type of person. (as in emotionally moved). With a shell of sarcasm, negativity, and bitterness, all wrapped in a BIG sense of humor (one of my best features), and a *very slight* dramatic and acting-out flair. You might not know this at first sight, at first I am very easy going and accomodating. (I retain the easy going and accomodating later on, too, but mix the first part in, and you've pretty much got me).



See my photos ar http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/sheilacc123/album?.dir=3e07&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/sheilacc123/my_photos

I am a Christian. Thank God that Christianity is the beautiful truth. There IS hope, and I am totally into the profound ways that people find to express the REAL DEAL of how perfect and wonderful God is, whether that be through poetry, essay, visual art, or music.

My earthly life and trust of my own ways of thinking get in the way quite often, though, and I am not the Christian that I should be.

I have a problem with a lot of Christians. They think that God is going to give them exactly what they want and quote verses like "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart". They think their obedient life and keeping their nose clean is owed payment by God for good things to happen to them.

Well, all I can say to them is to look at the life of Jesus. And look at the lives of missionaries who lose their own children and their own lives. Look at the martyred apostles.

I'm not trying to be a downer, here, but, geez, to those Christians, have some BALANCE.

I'm not saying that I would be strong enough to be a martyr (I hope I would be). But I would HOPE that I would be strong enough, that is my aspiration, after all, what is more important in life than the REAL DEAL which is the only thing that lasts beyond this life? And the spiritual aspect is who we really are as humans, that's the only part of us that lasts beyond this life.

More about me, I am a classically trained musician who is SO OVER the snobbery of much people in that field. I got pretty good at piano playing in college, as I was supposed to practice 4 hours a day and often met that goal. So, I can play a mean piano, depending on who you compare me to. I do enjoy and understand great music. But everything in life pales in importance to our mission as Christians to do God's will and spread the good news. NOTE: I am not a "good" Christian- I am rebellious and I can't discern the voice of God. But I *know* that most things in life are a waste of time compared to being plugged into the will of God for your life, and I know where my focus needs to be. Because I believe the will of God truly lived out in one's life will draw in other believers.

I enjoy many things in life, among them, good humor, artistic things (dance, writing, music, film), etc., banter with friends, and communciation and connection with other people. Most people are afraid to tell you who they are, especially at first, so I'm into sharing all that when the time is right. Nothing makes me feel better than to share and have someone share back. But, I'm shy myself, so it doesn't happen much.

I am a trained musician (pianist and choral director). I have an office music-related day job. I play piano for a church as a job as well. I would love to be a choral director of some sort (high school choir, community choir, large church choir, a choir in a village in Africa (if I was called there!), a choir at a men or women's prison, even! As it is, I pick out much of the music for our small church choir. But I would love for it to be my own thing, and for me to have lots of rehearsal time with a choir.

I also enjoy teaching music. I enjoy being a presenter to groups. I don't enjoy, however, being a policewoman or being in crowd control, which is why I quit teaching public school.

I see myself in the future becoming physically fit (Stop the roller coaster!), becoming more organized, becoming more loving and connected with other people, becoming more effective as a witness, becoming closer to God, becoming more "don't sweat the small stuff", becoming more inclined to pursue artistic interests, and THE MOST IMPORTANT- Becoming hooked up with someone special, where we can support and love each other through this life.

-Sheila