burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

This should have been posted last night, but I was too tired when I got home from class to finish it. So all the "todays" &etc. remain as if it were posted Wednesday night.

-----

( gym )

***

Ed Rollins (R) was on CNN AM and said that neither candidate was inspiring, which was what he thinks people want, that it was a lot of Senate floor talk. That sounded exactly accurate to me.

I avoided the liveblogs last night, but I just about hurt myself laughing reading this one [Will Wilkinson]. (I don't know what the "transvestite" line at the beginning is about, and I'm choosing to ignore it. It's a libertarian blogger, so a lot of the economic stuff &etc. may rub my liberal flisters the wrong way. It gets better as it goes along. The timestamps are Central time zone.)

( excerpts )

Daniel Drezner summed up:

In the end, both candidates put forward mainstream internationalist positions on most issues related to national security, stressing the prudent use of military force, working in concert with allies and insisting that America could still be an active force for good in the world.

What was odd was that this hopeful vision of America's role in the world clashed badly with their rhetoric on the global economy. When talk turned to economics, the rest of the world was viewed as a scary, scary place.

***

The power went out shortly before noon (and stayed out for a half an hour).

Ian went and got lunch (tofu stirfry!) and was hanging out by my desk chatting while the power remained out. (It's hard to do much work here without our computers, and we FAs were still gonna wait until about 12:30 to head to lunch in order to miss the student rush.)

I forget how we got on it, but Ian said, "You're not worried about getting electronically outsourced?" I said the amount of person management I do...

Talking about how people are forever asking me where something/someone is, Ian said, "You like it. You could be all passive-aggressive [mimes turning his head down and away as if sitting at a desk avoiding someone] but instead you [demonstrates how I'll perk up and say, "How can I help you?" -- I didn't nitpick that what I actually say is, "Can I help you?"] I've seen you." I said yeah, I totally love being helpful. (I didn't mention that it connects to my being a control-freak, but that might have been implied.)

I said if someone could develop a Marauder's Map, that would be great. Ian asked, "Marauder's Map?" I said yeah, from Harry Potter -- it's a map of Hogwarts, the school, and it'll show you where anyone is on the school grounds, as a dot on the map with their name.
He said he's the only person who's never read one word of Harry Potter. I said my mom read them to my younger brother when they were first coming out in England and I was doing homework on the computer in the other room and got sucked in.
He said, "You're a geek, I know," in this tone of like, "You don't have to defend yourself, it's okay." I said I'll get militantly defensive about other stuff (I didn't specify, but of course Buffy was what immediately came to my mind), but I wasn't getting defensive, just explaining.

[Dude, you can get it as a screensaver!]

***

I used the phrase "marginal utility" at lunch, and MaryAlice said, "You are taking an econ class." She said she recognized the phrase, but she wouldn't have thought of it to use it.

She said something about Chinese buffet night, and I restrained myself from saying, "AT THE CHINESE BUFFET, WATER IS ON THE HOUSE." (ref. this Dinosaur Comics, and musesfool's subsequent tag)

***

How have I not learned to just be proactive ALWAYS when it comes to work stuff? It always works out better that way. Sigh.

***

I got to Rest and Bread early and walked into the church office to make myself useful. Laura Ruth introduced me to Jamie, the new church administrator (I think), and said, "Elizabeth is..." I thought, "I see you searching for a phrase appropriate for public company" -- because when she introduced me to Meck at brunch a few weeks ago, she used the phrase "church whore," among others -- and she ultimately finished her sentence to Jamie with: "resident church whore." I laughed. She continued: "She frequents all the houses of worship up and down the street." (This is an overstatement, because there are at least six distinct faith communities on College Ave. and I'm only affiliated with three of them, but I LOVE that phrasing.)

At one point while we were setting up I said to Laura Ruth, "Am I allowed to ask you how you've been, or would that be too distracting?" She said yes at the moment that would be too distracting -- but the short version is that she's doing great.

Rest and Bread ("Welcoming the Stranger")

In the Welcome, Laura Ruth said, "We know each other some," but that we don't know all parts of each other -- which in light of Sunday at CWM I read as a subtle nod to National Coming Out Day &etc., whether it was intended so or not.

She said when thinking about welcoming the stranger, we have to ask ourselves, "Who is stranger, us or them," which I thought a nice pun.

The Psalm was Psalm 120.

The Sacred Texts were from Deuteronomy ("...love the stranger") and Hebrews ("let mutual love continue ... entertained angels unawares").

Reflection:
Laura Ruth talked about welcoming the stranger. She talked about how encountering strangers brings newness into our lives and that can be disruptive and threatening.
She said that prayer is about curiosity, not control. (I forget exactly how that related, but I liked it.)
She talked about the "entertained angels unawares" thing and said that one way we can react when we encounter the stranger -- even when it's that crazy guy in the park yelling -- is to think, "Maybe it's Jesus" (I thought of that bit in Anne Lamott's Traveling Mercies I think it was, where talks about making a conscious effort to just when she takes the dog out for a walk to see Jesus in the face of every single person she encounters -- or maybe it's just the first person she encounters? but I think it's everyone). She said that Jesus is pure holiness, . I have issue with this because thanks to Old Testament classes and stuff, I can't help thinking of "holy" as "whole," and we are (as she said) broken. [By the time service was over, I had forgotten about probing about this -- and I couldn't stay too long anyway, as I had class -- so I'll be emailing her about this.]

(In other news, Laura Ruth made me an official, computer print out, clip-on, nametag.)

***

Today's mail included:
* my voter registration confirmation (though "I Vote You Vote - a project of the non-partisan American Democracy Institute" says, "Sorry. We can't confirm Elizabeth [redacted] is registered to vote in Massachusetts." -- I suspect they're just a little behind)
* a $36.75 refund check from RCN
* my American Red Cross donor card (I'm O Positive!)

***

Yom Kippur began at sunset tonight. If I've hurt you, or you think you've hurt me, please let me know.

Also: The Literary Twelve Days of Christmas

***

And non-Christian seasonally, mjules has a post with a lovely seasonal poem and photograph (about the light and darkness of the winter).

So, instead of finalizing my Europe trip, I spent much time today planning ahead for classes next semester.  ::fails::

HOWEVER, turns out it's kind of awesome.

ASL II is Tuesdays, ASL III is Wednesdays, and then ASL IV is Thursdays which would conflict with CAUMC small group except that by then it'll be summer so it's a MW course.  (Of course, small group was Monday when I started attending, so it's always possible that other people's schedules will change and Thursdays will no longer be maximally optimal.  But I'm planning based on current information.)

ALSO, I've been seriously considering taking Introduction to the Classics of Western Thought I & II (Fall&Spring; Mondays both terms, so no ASL conflict) but I was also seriously considering taking it for credit -- despite the fact that last year I was so not into doing the work for the classes I was taking.  So I was gonna e-mail the professor and ask for a copy of the syllabus (even a preliminary one) to get a feel for whether the written work was gonna be something I would really be into doing.  Turns out, this course isn't offered for graduate credit, so that solves my problem for me, 'cause I'm not gonna take stuff for undergrad credit. (So I'll just audit it.)

[Okay, I'm sort of tempted by Religion, Liberalism, and Democracy, 'cause it's distance-only.  History of Ancient Christianity would be cool, but Thursdays=no.  Really I know that I'm going to be doing plenty of reading on my own so I shouldn't feel bad about not actually taking a Religion class.]

***

People keep commenting on the weather being too warm, and I keep thinking it's not bad.  What parallel universe have I been transported into?

I'm hardly one to endorse extremes, but really, people, what is your comfort range?


musesfool posted "Bodhisattva" by Cassandra Labairon, which is amazing and I think I need to print it out and post it next to my desk.

Browsing elsewhere, I found "When the Temperature Hits Twenty-Five Below Zero" (with a protagonist named Velma!) by the same author.  Excerpt:

Surely it is cold; she nods at the window

filled with frost, but I couldn’t live
where it is always the same.

[...]

Outside,

your words freeze; even a scream hardens,
falls and shatters, but it’s home. Home.

Part of me says "Yes!" but the cold is still of death.  I've posted about this before -- about the lack of representation of love of winter.  Sigh.

***

I posted yesterday saying I'm really not a writer, and predictably, this makes me want to write.

***

Remember I talked about daily morning church service?  You would think this wouldn't be that hard to find in Boston (being a major metropolis, plus v. Catholic).  I mean, come on, St. Catherine's in Norwood has 6:45am Mass Monday-Saturday.  I found a few places with midweek services around lunchtime or shortly after the workday is over, but otherwise the best I can come up with is:
* The Episcopal Divinity School has 8:30am weekday services during the academic year
* Cathedral of the Holy Cross has 9am Mass Monday-Saturday
And with the Internet, I think I've found most of the Catholic, Orthodox, etc. churches.  (Sarah, if you ever wanna come check out Orthodox services again, there's an entire list of area churches.)  Okay, I finally found Weekday Services: Orthros - 8:00am / Divine Liturgy - 9:00 - 10:00am at Saint Athanasius in Arlington -- which I wouldn't go to, for a number of reasons, but still.

I kind of want to do daily cardio before work, 'cause my schedule is never gonna allow for more than 2-3 times/wk after work and I would really like to make that 5/wk; and I could do Smart Girls Do Dumbbells at some point at my convenience each evening.

***

(I remain excessively in love with girlyman's "St. Peter's Bones."  If I were to select a top song it would be "Reva Thereafter" -- knowing the story from the live performance I went to -- but "St. Peter's Bones" is the one I've been listening to on repeat.)

***

Oh, and following up yesterday's post about representation, International Blog Against Racism Week is August 6th-12th this year.  I will have just returned from Convo and then will be leaving for Europe partway through, but hopefully I can follow it more than I did last time (in part, so much of the posting last year was about Pirates 2, which I hadn't seen, and I'm spoiler-phobic, so I avoided all those posts -- though I bookmarked a lot of them for later reading).

I picked up the most recent (7/17/07) stuff@night and this is from Hub Bub Party (p. 22):

Monday, July 23 & 30

Just as weekend nights are made for dancing and debauchery, Monday nights are made for recovery.  But no one said you needed to regroup alone.  Instead, head out for a chill night at the Geisha Lounge, the newest weekly party at Caprice (275 Tremont Street, Boston, [phone number redacted].  The space is decked out in Asian-influenced décor (with even the staff dressed accordingly); resident DJs Tamer and Gregory provide the soundtrack and after a few of the night's "Frozen Exotic Elixirs" --- try the Rainforest Refresher ($10) or the Cuban Breeze ($10) --- your weekend hangover will have calmed to a dull roar.  Doors open at 10 p.m.; there's no cover charge or guest list, but do arrive dressed in "casual-chic" attire for admittance.

I really wanna go and see this for myself, but I would much rather go with company.  Maybe I can drag Nicole or Cailin.  (Obviously, any local people reading this are welcome to get in touch with me about making plans.)  [I can't find an official website, but there is this.]

***

Today's dinosaurcomics [permalink] quotes Richard Dawkins:

We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die, because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could be here, in my place, outnumber the sand grains of Sahara.  If you think about all the different ways in which our genes could be permuted, you and I are quite grotesquely lucky to be here. The number of events that had to happen in order for you to exist, in order for me to exist.... we are privileged to be alive and we should make the most of our time on this world. -Richard Dawkins

Of course I Googled to find the source -- and was annoyed that what I found didn't entirely match up.  ( Nothing bad, just frustrating to detail-oriented me. )

***

Today was the first session of the four-week Pilates on the Ball class.  It did not kill me ded as I had feared it might, though next time I'm definitely putting my mat closer to the instructor so I can see better what the f*ck I'm supposed to be doing.  Trying to keep track of all (especially all this fucking breathing), yeah, I felt kind of overwhelmed and like I wanted to cry (which is a familiar reaction, though I was a bit annoyed with myself because I was not in fact feeling like I was about to fall apart -- it occurred to me later that this could be tied to the fact that a number of my friends are . . . not in crisis, but in difficulty, and I feel helpless) like the whole time.

(Sidenote: Waiting outside in the hall before class, one of the women was reading Us Weekly and commented on the ridiculousness of the Hilary Duff weight-loss thing 'cause hello, she was not at all fat in that Before picture, and in that After picture she looks like she should eat a sandwich.  I am coming to have a very weird relationship with being embodied.  When we first entered class I was like, "There are mirrored walls?  This was not in the brochure," but by the end of class I was kind of whatever, and I almost feel like I would be more comfortable working out just my sports bra [and pants of some sort! gutter-minds] rather than wearing a t-shirt over it.  I'm getting over being weirded out by naked people in the locker room and coming to be more weirded out by people who are careful not to expose any of their private parts when changing.  Like, it's just flesh, people.  And of course I also have complicated relationships with paying attention to my body and taking care of it -- food, exercise, etc.)

I would have loved bracing cold weather outside when I left the gym.  The Red Line car I got on was not air-conditioned, so I decided to get out at Porter and walk some more, since I was in a foul mood, and walking that off tends to help.  (I'm tempted to get out at Porter every day 'cause stairs are good for you.)  I finally did find the street Ian lives on and think I found his house (he sent me a link to a Yahoo! Photo Album, which included a few exterior shots).

I really need to obtain good walking shoes.

****

When I passed CD Planet I saw a flyer for a (free) production of Henry IV: Friday, July 27, 2007 -- 7pm -- Sanders Theatre (Industrial Theatre Shakespeare Company).

I am so there.  (Anyone else interested?)

***

Eric says S2 of How I Met Your Mother is due out on DVD soon.  I was skeptical 'cause "You are signed up to receive an e-mail from us when this item is available." on Amazon, and indeed, I can't find release date info anywhere online (checked Amazon, comingsoon.net, etc.).  Of course I think S2 should come out soon, but I do not run the universe. Edit: Jonah sent me this link, which says "First Tuesday in October." /edit

While we're on the topic: for those who've seen S2.

Pi Day!
I printed this out to put up on my wall at work.  No lie.  (This means I took down my Firefly calendar pages and currently have my X3 promo combo of Warren-Jean-Rogue, the Pressure and Limitations demotivators, and the Firefly Determination.  On my sidewall that is.  My frontwall still has all the Allie art.  Am pondering including this cast pic on the sidewall as well.)

[I was laughing at it when FormerUnitHead was picking some stuff up at the printer and he said, "Don't you know you're not allowed to have that much fun at work?"  I said, "Is it okay if I wasn't doing work?  Does that make it better or worse?"]

*

We had a meeting through lunchtime in a conference room down on Eric's floor and brought the extra food back upstairs.  The doors are pull, and I was carrying a tray, so knowing Ranjan was behind me and had a free hand, I said, "Can you get the door for me?"
"Absolutely not," said Eric, whose desk is right there.
"I wasn't talking to you," I said.

"Guess what came out today?" he said.
It took me a second, 'cause usually it's DVDs, but I'd seen Sharon's post this morning, so I said, "Buffy Season 8 comic."
He had a copy in his bag.  I said I was gonna stop by the comic book store after work.

*

It was freakishly warm out when I left work at 5pm.  Way to remind me how much I do not look forward to the onset of summer.

Spray paint guy remembered my name, which impressed me since it's been months and I've certainly forgotten *his* name.

*

"More men than women take teddy bears to bed when sleeping alone, according to a new study. "

*

Less is More fic challenge [masterlist here]
write the hottest fic you can (all fandoms are welcome, as is slash, het, threesomes, whatever) that doesn't involve any actual sexing. Maybe some above-the-waist touching (fingertips on a wrist, breath on the back of a neck), and maybe a kiss or two if you absolutely must, but that's it—we want flirting and longing and proximity and teasing and when-we-get-home-I'm-going-to-fuck-you-through-the-mattress non-explicit HOTNESS.