Bulletproof

I'm going off "Schedule" here, because it's just about time to leave for youth group and I don't have time to write about the Global Forum right now. Instead, I shall share a story! It's pretty short, in fact this description is probably longer, but that's okay.

Isn't it funny how the senses work? How they can remind you of a moment in time? No matter where I am (today I was in the mall food court), when I hear the song Bulletproof, I am immediately transported to a Munich hostel, to the "club" in the basement, and dancing with a tall, blonde, South African man. Every. Time.

I Slammed Into The Golden Gate Bridge

According to the list I made myself yesterday said that I would write about California. Since I don't think you want to read a long travel guide to San Francisco, let me write about the funniest story of the trip.

So we rented bikes one day to ride around the city and over the bridge. The Golden Gate Bridge, of course. Now, I haven't ridden a bike in about 15 years, but told my friend it had only been a few years (she loves riding). I figured there's a reason for the cliche "it's like riding a bike". After reacquainting myself to pedaling and braking, I was pretty good. Toughest part was always getting started.

So we rode along the piers and across the city, getting ever closer to the bridge. We stopped when we were close to take pictures. As my cousin said, it looks like we're posing in front of a postcard!

The bridge has a special sidewalk just for bikes, so we rode over the bridge. One thing I didn't expect was that the bridge is kinda like a hill. The first half goes uphill, the second goes down. You can't really see much of a change, but you sure can FEEL it in your legs! We rode all the way over then turned around to find a place to eat. We were about three-quarters of the way back, going downhill, when things went....not as planned.

As best as I can figure, since it happened so quickly, when I reached up to push my helmet back, I started veering to the left (where there was a railing and traffic), so I tried to correct myself. Apparently, I overcompensated and was heading straight for a big beam. I managed to turn enough so I didn't hit straight on, but I put my hand up and took the whole force of the impact with my hand and knee, followed quickly by my forearm and shin. To give you an idea of how hard I hit, some of the paint from the bridge rubbed off onto my jeans...and is still stained there! The bruising and pain was intense and immediate! I lost my shoe in the process and my best friend....kept going! I was in pain and could only manage to yell out the first part of her name, but STILL she kept going! Some strangers stopped to see if I was okay, by which time my friend caught up, and I was pretty sure nothing was broken, but I certainly was shaken up!

The aftermath was a very bruised knee, hand, and forearm, bruises to both shins, and the insides of my knees, and pain when I moved my wrist or fingers. I was pretty convinced that I didn't break anything, just severely bruised it, so I just bought an ace wrap. In the words of my best friend "I don't want to go to the doctor on my vacation. But if you're really hurt, I guess I'll take you." True friendship, right there!

Thank God, nothing serious was injured, although I am still sore, and it provides for a fabulous story! I mean, how many other people can say they slammed into the Golden Gate Bridge? Or that they got an ace wrap as a souvenir?!

{Minor follow up here}

Whoa! It's NaBloWriMo!

Whoops! Missed the start of this yesterday! Guess I'll have to do two posts in one of theses days. Well, don't know what to write about today. I'm not feeling all that great today. So, let's plan the next few days!

Thursday: California <3

Friday: Global Forum and Train the Trainer

Saturday: Ashley's Thinking....

Sunday: Harvest Night Recap

So, let's let today to be "Happy NaBloWriMo Day" and I'll see you every day this month!

(P.S. I'm on Twitter now! @AspiringAshley7. Only added the 7 because someone used Aspiring Ashley as the handle for a fan page of some model D= )

Fear Conquering!

Well, I can cross one thing off my 30 by 30 list (halfway, anyway!).

I went ziplining 40 feet about the ground. At the Ecotarium in Worcester, they have a treetop walkway that ends with a zipline.

Here I am, already to go! I've got my harness and helmet, and I'm dressed like a watermelon, so this should be great!

This is it! Climbing down a ladder onto one of the little wobbly bridges. They would swing and wobble the whole time. Thank God only one person was allowed on a bridge at a time! As it was, if someone on the bridge bounced or swung it, the treetop platforms would wobble.

After crossing the bridges and looking for birds, we made out way to the zipline. My best friend Chrissy went first, and let out a scream that made me rethink this whole idea. The picture above is me really rethinking the whole "conquering a fear" thing after seeing the height. It took about 10-15 minutes to convince myself to do it. The guy even offered to push me off! I finally went for it, mostly because I had already told all of Facebook I'd be doing it and didn't want to tell everyone I chickened out. So I got in the little chair.

I sat in the chair for a few minutes trying not to back out. The guy promised me he'd let me down nice and slow, unlike Chrissy's turn. And he did! I even kept my eyes open while I was going!

It was at this point that I realized I should have asked to go faster at the end. This part was not a big drop, more of an even keel, so going slow was kinda like riding an escalator. But I did it! WOOOO HOOOOO!

Miscarriage

At 3am I woke up from a dream....or a nightmare, rather.

I was in a hospital room (which looked more like a doctor's office). I was pregnant and in labor. The only other person in the room was my brother. He was sitting in a chair against the wall, texting on his cellphone to avoid the awkwardness of being in the room with his laboring sister.

A nurse came in because the baby's heart rate was doing weird things, so she attached a scalp monitor, and told me to just relax. I called my mom and got up, started walking around.

Suddenly the monitor started beeping, the baby's heart rate dropped, dropped, dropped to zero and blood started flowing out from me. A nurse came in, telling me to get back into bed and I hung up with my mom, who came into the room at that moment.

I had a miscarriage during labor because I didn't listen. I stood up when I shouldn't have and my baby died because of it.

Is this a crazy dream brought on by the various events of the past day? Or is there something more? Is it spiritual? And if so, what's it mean? I get the analogy, don't get me wrong, but if its spiritual, what does the baby represent? And why didn't I have a husband in this dream???

It was such a realistic dream. When I jolted awake, I threw back the covers to make sure I wasn't bleeding! To add to the surrealism, as I laid back down, trying to simultaneously fall asleep and figure out the meaning, the computer screen in the other room randomly came on, casting my room in a pale blue hue.

This was one of the strangest dreams I've had. And it had a weird feeling to it, like it was more than just a dream, but I don't know. I guess I'm just going to have to pray about it for a while and see what God reveals.

Have you ever had a crazy, crazy dream that left you awake and wondering?

30 by 30!

Well, I figured I should make this post before I check something off the list tomorrow! This is my list of everything I want to do before I turn thirty in just over 5 years. And can I just say, its really weird that I'm gonna be 30 in 5 years!!!! Craziness! My list actually has 38 things, because I couldn't narrow it down enough, so the extras are bonus! As I complete things, I'll post about them and cross it out on the 30 by 30 page above :) What's on your bucket list?

TRAVEL

• Visit all 7 continents
• Visit the North Pole
• Walk in Jesus’ footsteps
• Go scuba diving
• See the Northern Lights
• Live abroad
• Dance in Spain
• Visit every Disney Park
• Take a trip with no luggage
• Heads Carolina, Tails California (Just drive for a day or so before looking at a map)
• Take a cross country road trip
• Visit a volcano
• Hike the Grand Canyon
• Go to ComiCon

HAPPINESS

• Be part of a flash mob
• Watch the sunset til it turns to stars til it turns to sunrise, in the middle of nowhere
• See a show on Broadway
• Shower under a waterfall
• See a meteor shower
• Say yes to something completely spontaneous
• See a solar eclipse

SERIOUS

• Reach Goal Weight
• Pay off all my debt
• Change the world

SKILLS

• Do a kick up
• Learn to drive stick
• Take a cooking class from a pro
• Learn a language

CHALLENGES

• Polar Plunge
• Do a 365 Photography Project
• Read the whole Bible in 90 days, then in 30.
• Coal Walk
• Climb Kilimanjaro for slavery

MISCELLANEOUS

• Conquer a fear
• Write a book
• Organize something really big (event)
• Shoot a gun

Sex, Money, and That Sick Feeling

Oh my gosh.

Oh.My.Gosh.

What the heck?!

Holy crap holy crap holy crap.

What the &$%@#*$&%^&

Oh my God, save these girls!!

Repeat for an hour and a half.

That's pretty much went through my head during the screening of

The Whistleblower.

This film is based on real events, also captured in a book of the same name.

Basically, to sum it up very quickly, a woman works for the UN in post-war Bosnia. During her work, she comes face-to-face with human trafficking, specifically the sex trade. Worse than that, many government workers and high-ranking officials are involved, not only as customers, but as suppliers. When she tries to end this horrible reality, she is faced with threats to her and the girls involved, and is forced to end her formal investigation. But she cannot simply forget the things she has learned.

She becomes the Whistleblower.

This film is gruesome, intense, and very real. Be warned: this is rated R for good reason. You will be nauseated. It's hard to process this film. It's obviously far different than reading a book about human trafficking (which I've done several times). Seeing this movie made it so much more realistic. I know what I saw was acting, but it was really good acting. And what was depicted really happened. And it's happening right now. All over the world. Even here in the US, here in Mass.

It's sickening. But that word isn't strong enough. I don't have words to fully convey what I'm thinking and feeling. Except to say I have to DO something. But I'm not sure what or how. But I have some ideas, and have to look into some things, and pray about it.

The film comes to select theaters this weekend. Please go see it. Its very intense. Very. But its important to be aware of what's happening in our world, especially if we want to end it.

While you're at it, check out Sex+Money (which I screened on Monday).

It was just as serious, but not as gritty. This one is about sex trafficking right here in the US. Its a documentary with interviews from former prositutes, pimps, clients, and leaders in the abolition movement.

Both films were very well done, on a very serious and important topic. Please check these films out and let me know if you'd like more resources...I've got a ton! Together we can end slavery in our lifetime.