"the darkness shall turn to dawning, and the dawning to noonday bright"

Friday

( gym )

I was talking to my friend Joy (one of the desk workers at the gym) this morning, and she was telling me about how she's going to Iceland in December.  I laughed because about a week and a half ago, jadelennox was like, "I have this incredible urge to go to Iceland for the weekend. Because I could, in theory."  Joy was talking about she found this wicked cheap deal and she's gonna go on a glacier hike and go snorkeling in one of the tectonic fissures and it'll be Northern Lights season, and I was like, "Now I kinda wanna ask [JadeLennox] whether she was kidding."

My brother called me today and we sussed out the remaining details of what he owes me from Italy, so I can has bank transfer and pay OFF my credit card rather than just paying it DOWN.  Yay :)

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At Singspiration, we did "Sweet By and By" followed by "I'll Fly Away" (they're on facing pages).  Sigh.  "I'll Fly Away" is really catchy, but it always makes me uncomfortable with its vibe of "we are just suffering through this earthly existence until we can get to Heaven."  I can see how stuff like "Just a few more weary days and then" is really comforting if you're actually dying -- and I totally support it in that context.  I mean, I find the idea that there is a better world to come very comforting.  But the hymn feels too much like rejecting this world, which I don't think is how we're called to be.

Other than that, nothing really jumped out at me during the evening as theologically...offensive?  (I feel like that's not quite the word I want.)  I think a lot of it is that I can sort of shift myself into the mentality, to interpret them as, "Well this isn't my personal theology, but I can understand how people get this from the Bible."

Bob MacDonald did a song called "Come Home," which had a really nice line in it -- "Your Father loves you."

Geoffrey Hicks did "This Little Light of Mine," and had us sing along and kept insisting we sing louder.  DonT. kindly shouted :)

At Fellowship afterward, at least two people asked me, "How's your grandmother?" and I would say she was happy but her cognition is crap, and they would totally dismiss the bad stuff.  Meh.  Some of it's probably just the meaningless conversation thing (cf. "How you are you?" / "Fine. You?") but also, no one actually wants to hear bad stuff.

My aunt emailed:

I spoke to Mom today and it turns out that Dad is back. Yup, back to his pre-whateverhappened state. He can get up with very little help from just one person and his mind is fine. He's talking and joking. Who can believe it? I have to be realistic about wondering how long this will last - but what good timing!

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[Tech.view] Move over, Prius: Dieselesque petrol engines take to the road (Oct 24th 2008, From Economist.com)

"Date Local" (October 24, 2008 -- feministing.com) -- riffing on an Oct. 22 Slate piece of the same title.
    The environmental aspect filled me with snarky glee (cf. "Gee, Al Gore, why not accept your Nobel Prize via video conference.  After all, we've all got to make sacrifices."), but I was less enamoured of the idea that you're contributing to the detriment of local community by dating long-distance.  I don't think having connections to places beyond where you live means you necessarily have less connection to the place you live.
    The Slate piece says, "they make their cities more stratified by inflating an über-class bubble of jet-set shut-ins who are—understandably, given their lifestyle—more worried about conditions at O'Hare than things going on outside their front door."  I do appreciate the nod to the privilege inherent in being able to comfortably maintain a long-distance relationship (though again, I don't think doing a lot of interstate commuting means you necessarily care less about what's going on in your own neighborhood).

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seen on friendsfriends: "Monologue for an Onion" by Suji Kwock Kim [poem]

I remain kind of addicted to Matt Nathanson's "Come On Get Higher" [lyrics, video].

I was catching up on Will's blog, and one bit struck me (emphasis mine):

The first general rule of Methodism has recently been recast as simply "do no harm." But when we do do harm, even unintended, healing is possible only through the commitment to give the space that love needs. We can't crowd the place with explanations or arguments. Thinking about my hurt friend, leads me to recommit myself to trusting God's ability to fill the empty spaces with grace.
    [full post]

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Saturday

I ended up not getting to bed until about 1:30am.  Before my mom went to bed, she asked me if I wanted to be woken up at some point in the morning.  I said I figured I needed to be up by 11:30 (for a 12:30 lunch) and that I shouldn't have any problem waking up by then.

11:25am, marginaliana texted me to remind me to register for muskratjamboree.  This is literally what woke me up.  I blame this in part on the fact that the shades were down, so I really had no idea that the sun had risen.  (Apparently if I hadn't gotten up by 11:30, my mom would have woken me up.)

While I was out of the house, the Red Cross called me to tell me about an upcoming blood drive in Medford.  I thought they said, "Monday, November 23rd," but when I went to put it on my calendar later, I saw that the 23rd is a Sunday.  Hrm.  The website doesn't have November up yet.  I signed up for a 6:30pm slot, so I'm sure even if I forget to check I'll get a reminder notice (especially since I don't actually currently have a location).

I feel like I should be going back to work tomorrow, which is kind of weird.