pretty good day

[hermionesviolin]

The "cross training" alternates between Resistance:1 and Resistance:8 every 6 minutes (for my 30-minute program) and encourages you to pedal backwards for the high-resistance sections.
This morning I did the "weight loss" program -- alternating resistance every 4 minutes, but forward-pedaling the whole time.  Not a significant time improvement, though I felt more like I was pushing my body in a good way and less like I was slogging through molasses or something.
1mi @ 12:20min
2mi @ 24:02min
2.43mi @ 30min

Work was actually calm today, which I was grateful for.

Reading worth_the_trip has made me not only want to read many of the books but also reminds me of my attempt to read all the queer lit in existence (back in 2002? I hadn't realized just how much there was until I actually got into it).  I did writeups, but they were all aiming to be neutral summations, so I'd kind of like to reread for quality control.  I've been thinking for years now that I really should reread all that Jeanette Winterson I read in high school.  (I'm also working on composing my letter to Mike F., and in conjunction with the "A Queer Kid in the Library" post, I am reminded of how important it is to see oneself, or persons like oneself, represented in media that you consume.  I forget this sometimes, since with my various communities both fannish and otherwise I see a multitude of sexualities and gender presentations/experiences represented in fiction and autobiography.)

I've been seeing ads for The Brave One at the gym, and the first ad I saw I thought it was a torture film, but I IMDb-ed today, and was given "A woman struggles to recover from a brutal attack by setting out on a mission for revenge." as a Plot Outline, which is appealing to me.  In the comments to musesfool's post, someone linked an NYT piece on Ms. Foster's career.  It says, in part:

Outlandish in its violence and its conceit, "The Brave One" would be an interesting addendum to Ms. Foster's career even without its biographical frisson, without the image of Erica holding a gun with a deadeye stare that directly summons up Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver," the film in which she plays a child whore, the film that inspired John W. Hinckley Jr.'s mad love.

Hi, I need to see Taxi Driver now.

I have been thinking about it being the Days of Awe*, and about repentance and being right with God and being right with other people.  Which is frustrating timing as I had been feeling just about done with having ethics.  (Phone calls make me happy.)  Being good is hard.  I was thinking about this on my way home, and how it didn't seem right.  I decided that it's like transitioning to a healthy diet -- we get into damaging habits, and a lot of the world inclines to keep us in those habits, and at first the new habits often seem far less pleasurable than the old ones, but eventually you get to the point where fresh fruit (in season, from local growers, all that good stuff) is actually more appealing to you than highly processed sugary packaged stuff and the vending machine stuff actually doesn't taste good to you.
* I wish Christian Education included more about Judaism, because if we profess to believe that ours is the God of the Israelites, then wouldn't there be some merit or at least interest in our learning about that history?  For a whole lot of reasons -- to understand how this God and His people used to engage, to understand the context of the texts we sacralize, and so on.

CAUMC!Eric was asking me tonight about what music I like, and I can't not talk about Ani DiFranco, even though I tend to avoid her political stuff and am not a fan of her more recent more experimental work (which I date from her 2001 r/r but which really dates from her 1999 upx6).  Unlike with most artists, I'm actually familiar with a majority of her work, and I actually like the majority of it as well.  I think she's a talented musician and lyricist, and I come back to her relationship songs again and again, finding new ways to connect them to my experiences.  My song today is "swandive" (though, as usual, only parts of it).

Comments

[paper-crystals.livejournal.com]

Taxi Driver is one of those very violent movies (all of the violence is in the last 10 minutes or so) that is actually worth seeing. Braveheart is not by the way.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I didn't dislike Braveheart -- though it was a number of years ago that I saw it.

[paper-crystals.livejournal.com]

*shrug*

It seemed too much like The Last of the Mohicans: The Scottish Version to me.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I've never seen The Last of the Mohicans, so maybe that helped.

[wisdomeagle]

the "A Queer Kid in the Library" post

without actually looking at the post, that makes me think of "kid in a candy store" (and my oh so inappropriate play on that phrase which I believe I shall email you with because of inappropriateness), which is certainly what my queer experience was like -- voraciously devouring queer lit and generally lit of all kinds.

Your learning-to-live-ethically metaphor is very cool. I need to think more about that. (I suspect having a regular prayer life/spiritual discipline is a bit the same way, eventually.)

[hedy.livejournal.com]

I wish Christian Education included more about Judaism, because if we profess to believe that ours is the God of the Israelites, then wouldn't there be some merit or at least interest in our learning about that history? For a whole lot of reasons -- to understand how this God and His people used to engage, to understand the context of the texts we sacralize, and so on.

Ironically, I was pondering this during Passover/Easter this year (when your standard easter includes kosher food, it happens). I was thinking about how Christians don't celebrate/acknowledge Passover-as the Last Supper was a Seder, I would think it might be more important.

Ironically, I was going to ask you about this.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

(The standard Easter dish is lamb, no? Which is somewhat ironic given Lamb of God and all.

I always think of that part in Christopher Moore's Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal:

     "The table will be set for the Passover feast of the Essenes," Joseph said. "Stay here for supper."
     "Celebrate the Passover early? Why?" John asked. "Why celebrate with the Essenes?"
     Joseph looked away from Joshua when he answered. "Because at the Essenes' feast, they don't kill a lamb.")

Yeah, Christians focus on the new ritual that Jesus instituted, which make sense given how Christianity spread to non-Jews, but feels weird given that Jesus was very much operating within a Jewish context and wasn't trying to make a new religion.

I would very much like Christianity/Christians to incorporate more of Jewish history, but then I worry that it would be Christians/Christianity co-opting Jewish traditions without an organic understanding of them. (And traditions evolve, so no Passover seder anywhere today is going to look exactly like Jesus' actual Last Supper -- nor should it, I don't think, but that makes it that much harder to discern how one should *do* Passover as a contemporary Christian.)

I went to a Maundy Thursday service last year that specifically included matzoh and foot-washing and a literal table which we sat at, passed the matzoh and cup to each other.

[fox1013.livejournal.com]

Randomly- in the category of "reasons we should get together to hang out at some point"- I would actually love to discuss the places where Christianity and Judaism intersect. I mean, I don't know a lot about Christianity, but I'm fascinated by which pieces of Judaism transformed into which pieces of Christianity.

Today, during services, we had a really interesting sermon about how Reform Judaism involves taking the traditions that matter and integrating them with the beliefs and customs of the modern day. Which, I think, this ties into, and which I think would be something interesting to explore.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I am ALWAYS happy to talk about religion, especially how stuff connects (since connections are one thing I tend to geek out about in any context), so I very much endorse this.