burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

So, I went to bed ~9pm because I was tired. Scott had sent me an email to apologize for dinner running late (oh, his family) but I didn't really feel like I was in the best condition for a phonecall -- and especially didn't wanna continue staying up late since I wanted to be up ~early.

An hour later I was still awake and was starting to draft emails in my head and could feel myself growing more awake so I got up.

Me: "I went to bed 'cause I was tired -- and then I got less tired."
Housemate: "I don't know what to tell you."

Once I was significantly awake, I texted Scott, but he didn't call.

I watched a TED talk and emailed Pr. Lisa re: liturgical items she had mentioned on Monday (Welcome, Communion, "the prayer that Jesus taught us").

I went back to bed ~1am. I'd set an alarm for 7:30 and then turned it off and set one for 8, given how late I was getting to bed. I woke up a little after 7:30, surprised that I seemed ~awake figured I'd stay in bed until my alarm went off, but possibly I'd never really set that one either as I looked at the clock ~8:03 with no memory of getting up and turning off my alarm. I got up ~8:10. idek.

I wasn't really ready to leave the house until ~9:15 and decided I didn't feel like going to Jeff's office hours just for the tail end, so I puttered on the Internet until ~10am at which point I left for The Christian Community. I got there in ~50min. *approves*

Remember when I went to Unity? Possibly I need to start rigorously Wikipedia-ing places before I attend (I looked at their website! I tried to get a feel for what they were! it didn't occur to me to research further). It, um, is definitely not the place for me.

( my visit )

Continuing my travels:

I stopped by the Gap and attempted to shop for pants.

I stopped by HEUMC and picked up dish towels and altar cloths for laundering.

Some of you know the Powder House Rotary. I came up College Ave and at Warner, a car was coming into the rotary and I was thinking, as I sometimes do, "Do you not see me? Do you just think you're going fast enough relative to me that you don't need to yield to me [who is traffic in the rotary!] because you'll just be past me?" I was moving to the right so I could take an right onto College, and I wasn't sure the car and I weren't gonna be occupying the same space at the same time, and I considered slowing down and going straight (but then that puts me in a really awkward position because lacking mirrors I don't feel safe taking sudden turns in front of what may well be oncoming traffic) and as I'm considering decisions, impact. On the ground, I had a moment of thinking, "If this car keeps moving, I'm fucked," but it was going relatively slow, so I just had a scrape/bruise on my right elbow and a sore tailbone. I initially felt a bit shaken/dizzy, but standing around for a bit I felt sufficiently fine. And I didn't feel any fear at all about getting back on my bicycle, which I was glad of (though the beginning of Hank's vlog definitely gave me a bit of fear about bicycling as I was watching it).

I opted to walk to evening church -- weather.com had some sort of severe wind warning, and I'd certainly experienced strong wind out by BU (not just bicycling v. slowly into the wind, but also being literally pushed toward the right), so I decided since it was dark and I was injured, walking would be wisest (though I felt like I was being a coward, and I am totes bicycling to Thursday morning prayer).

***

"Joy Sadhana is a daily practice in the observation of joy."
-mylittleredgirl [more info]
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. And they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. (Isaiah 9:2, Handel's Messiah)

( Read more... )

Jean A. was pleased that her trees were all still standing. I sleep through ALL the thunderstorms :( I had seen on my bedroom window screen this morning that there were flecks of leaves or something, indicating it had been substantively windy overnight (and it occurs to me now, I did wake up around 3am to the door behind my bed swinging), but I had no idea there had been any actual storms.

When I left my house, it felt cool enough that I could have worn more than a t-shirt and shorts (gym clothes! what?). Bicycling down College Ave. to Boston Ave., there was mist (weird feeling: being confident that no rain is actually falling, but still having the rain-on-your-face experience on account of you are moving quickly through the moisture). I stopped by Porter Square Shaw's on the way in to work to get more pumpkin spice bagels.

I went to Trader Joe's on my lunch break to get more almond butter and lo, it was sunny (and even felt warm, tho the online weather informs me it was only 66F).

My Trader Joe's field trip was ~1:05-1:45. ~2:05 I went to Spangler to get some lunch. It had clouded over a bit and there was rain on the ground. Apparently it had downpoured for a moment when I wasn't paying attention.

***

Riding along the River, I was reminded of lunchtime phonecalls I've had walking along the River.

I keep accumulating Things occupying my off-work time (while still trying to retain a commitment to Getting Enough Sleep), but I also miss People. So hey, lunchtime phonecalls! Which I recognize won't work for everyone who might wanna phonecall with me (Sunday afternoons are also open), but hey, it's something.

***

In other news, I'll be in Atlanta Nov. 9-13 (and Chapel Hill/Effland Oct. 7-10) if anyone wants to field trip to visit me.

My current facebook status: "Things that are scary: urban cycling, putting my face under water. (Yes, I bicycled to my first Harvard swim class this morning.)"

( adventures in urban cycling are not that interesting )

I didn't end up renting a bike at SANS, which was fine, but doing the walk back and forth from the conference center to the house (or the pizza place) in the limited time we had for lunch breaks, I grew sympathetic to Marla's assertion that walking places felt so inefficiently slow in comparison to biking (she bikes everywhere, so that's her norm, whereas walking is mine).

And after the conference I was thinking about going rock wall climbing again and how the bus stops running mid-evening and I'm not gonna walk 7.2 miles home [from here] and so I need to pay for a taxi or phone-a-friend but hey, if I had a bicycle...

I am also telling myself to refuse to be one of those people who rides their bicycle on the sidewalk (even though riding in Boston traffic scares me -- maybe this'll help me be less frightened when I finally learn to drive?).

[Edit in case context is necessary: I know how to ride a bicycle, and even bought a helmet before SANS, but I haven't owned one in about a decade.]