Amelia Otherwhere Reporting for Duty

You may now congratulate me - I am an official CERT member. What is CERT? I'm glad you have asked. It is Community Emergency Response Team. Basically it's trained volunteer help during crisis. The past 3 days have been spent in a little room at the TeWinkle Middle School in Costa Mesa learning about what I can do as a CERT member in the event of a disaster. This could include earthquakes, fires, terrorist attacks just to name a few. We learned about triaging. It's a french word that means "to sort" and was started during WWI to sort out the different levels of injuries in order to help them know who needed care first. There are the M's - minor injuries who can walk out and don't require much assistance. Next is the D for Delayed. They are injured but aren't going to die. After that is the I for Immediate. They are the ones who are breathing faster than 30 respiration's per minute, take longer than 2 seconds for the circulation in the fingers to reappear and/or are mentally unstable. These are the victims who are treated first. And then there are the DEAD. So the plan is to put a piece of tape on their chests with the letter of their need. Good to know. The next time I come across somebody with a piece of tape on their chest marked with a D, I will know they are not going to die immediately. It's a great system really. We learned how to do a full assessment on victims, how to move them properly, how to splint them using all sorts of creative tools. I can perform CPR, RPM and follow the ICS. I can partake in Light Search and Rescue. I can record everything that happens on my handy dandy notebook to be given to the Incident Commander. I could go on for hours if I were to write all I learned - or tried to learn in such a short amount of time.

My brain is full. In fact, I think it's bulging with information. I'm afraid to take my bandanna off for fear everything will fall out once it's gone. I know it's holding everything in right now. Unfortunately I think to make room for all this new information, the old stuff seems to have been deleted. There were some wonderful ideas in my brain, but now they're gone. I got nothing. Nothing. No wit. No charm. No jokes. Nothing funny to say. I can't even think of any snarky comments to make. That in itself has put me in a bad mood. I'm sure when I am trying to sleep tonight, it will all come flooding back and I will be awake for hours composing in my head. That's what I have been doing lately. Composing great works in my head at night. Too bad I'm too lazy to get up, turn my computer on, and type it out. If I did, there might truly be some greatness on this blog. Instead, here I am sitting at my desk wishing I had something of consequence to say.

I need a hair cut. It's just that time again. Why does it cost so much? That's what I wonder. Then again doing my hair is pretty cheap compared to a lot of my friends. I have it cut only 2-3 times a year. I don't dye it. I don't highlight it. Nothing fancy. However, I am the most critical person out there. If my hair isn't done perfectly, I am a mess. Several years ago I thought it would be fun to grow my hair out and then donate it to Locks of Love for kids with cancer for wigs. Ya - great idea right up until the time I was supposed to do it. Pretty much I talked myself out of it until one of my friends reminded me of what I had said. And since I had told people that's what I was doing, I figured I would be breaking my word if I didn't do it. Additionally, I felt very convicted that here I have this beautiful blonde curly hair that so many people pay lots and lots of money to have, and I am not willing to share with kids who have lost theirs to disease. Oh, yes, that was quite a conviction. So I had it cut. The lady did a terrible job. I don't even know what happened. And then she cut only 81/2-inches when they needed 10-inches. It was pretty devastating for me. Luckily God used a really bad haircut to do the most drastic soul restoration ever in my life. Isn't He funny?! He used it to open my eyes to some painful areas of my life and allowed me the awesome privilege of letting Him work in those places to bring about healing. Let's just say it was completely worth it. I'm still nervous about bad hair cuts, but luckily hair grows back so I'm not the same wreck I used to be. And it's a great story to share - all from a bad haircut. It's a very long story so if you're interested in hearing it, you'll have to ask me. I don't think I will write about it in here...at least not today.

Tomorrow I am taking the day off. I fully intend on sleeping in - like that will ever happen. More likely I will wake up at 5 or 6am and won't be able to go back to sleep. Wow, that's really pessimistic. I think I get pessimistic when I get tired. Or when I don't get what I want. Or when past experience calls for it. I will be hopeful though and plan for the best.

Are you about finished with my blog yet? Tired of reading the dull and mundane details of the life of Amelia Otherwhere. At the moment, I'd like to be otherwhere - like in Sweden or Italy or Ireland. Those are some great Otherwhere's. I'd like to wish upon a star tonight that I win the lotto and can take a trip across the big ocean to visit my friend Cece. That's what I want to do. So maybe instead I'll pray. I hear GOD is a lot more powerful than the star He created. Probably the star isn't going to get me anywhere. And even if the prayer doesn't get me to Sweden, I know God will hear my prayer and provide abundantly beyond what I can ask or even think to ask to His glory. That's what it's all about. His glory.

So I will close now and praise the One who created all and knows exactly what each of us needs and will provide it in the best way. That's something to think on. He knows. He provides. He is pleased to meet our needs. That makes me feel loved and secure. That's what I needed tonight. To feel loved and secure. And I do. Thank you God. I feel Your pleasure.

(P.S.way, I didn't get my apple fritter. There's always tomorrow...)