burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

This morning was the first time riding my bike that I'd wanted to be able to drink water on the way. Oh, summer.

Getting ready this morning I was like, "What am I forgetting? Oh, right, an outfit for today." I picked a purple short-sleeved shirt and just picked up the "purple" tights I wore yesterday. Now that I'm actually wearing the outfit I think should have worn my gray tights (even though there's something wrong with the waistband on them or something).

On the the way home, I biked through patches of cooler air -- which I think we legit patches of cool air, not just escaped AC, since the first experience was coming over the River. Yay, impending cooler weather.

***

"Joy Sadhana is a daily practice in the observation of joy."
-mylittleredgirl [more info]
Thus says God to these bones: "I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am God." (Ezekiel 37:5-6, NRSV, alt.)

( Read more... )

I had an entry drafted griping about the salad bar continuing to be faily and about the kettlebells clinic I went to at Shad today (which I will write up for lifting_heavy_things as rydra_wong asked me to -- which is gonna require converting my OpenID to an actual DW account, huh?), and I just wrote Ari an email about my neuroses about something unrelated, but here's something happier.

At Coffee Hour on Sunday, Elizabeth F. was like, "Oh, there's this women preachers thing that Rae was talking about -- you should ask her about it."  So I did and Rae said that she'd gotten an email about it and was like, "I have to tell Elizabeth [my surname] about this."  \o/

Anyway, she finally forwarded me the email this evening.

Hello Sisters!

I hope you are all enjoying this glorious (and broiling) Summer season. I'm writing to let you know that Hosanna! People's Seminary (H!PS)* will be hosting a school year-long Dispersed Communities Uniting Summit inviting young women theologians (that's you!) to study and preach the Gospel of Luke or, The Women's Gospel. The course will be held monthly through video conference and at each session one participant will present a sermon-in-process** to the group after which will follow raucous and brilliant discussion. Shew! That's a lot to get done in about an hour a month! Now if only women ruled the world...

I hope you'll join us! Drop a line if you'd like to know more about this course and check out the website,www.hosannapeoplesseminary.org to learn more about Hosanna! People's Seminary and past and future programing.

Be Blessed,
Eda

*For those who have not heard me speak of it before, H!PS is a community resource I started organizing last fall. Check it out at
www.hosannapeoplesseminary.org!

**The purpose of the seminar is for women to build experience as preachers in community. Some might present fully developed sermons while others might share a looser set of thoughts, reflections, songs, poems, or prayers on the text.

Thursday

On my way in to the office from the gym, I talked to Jen S. (who is apparently just back from maternity leave last week).  We talked about how I go to the gym every morning and how impressive that is and how going to the gym is a good thing AND WE DIDN'T TALK ABOUT WEIGHT AT ALL.  She said she hasn't gotten back to the gym but she always feels like she has so much more energy during the day when she's gone to the gym in the morning -- so I suggested that she just go for 15 minutes (since she was saying it was hard to have the time), get herself moving, get her heart rate up, etc.  I was v. proud of myself.  I thought, as I always do, when people say that, that I didn't notice myself feeling more awake or energized or anything when I started going to the gym, but it occurred to me that I was already doing a  good bit of walking in the morning, so I probably ALREADY had that positive effect at work in my system.

JenS. and GeorgeKevin-at-the-gym both said maybe I don't mind the cold so much because of the way my metaboliosm is as a result of my going to the gym.  I didn't bother pointing out that my metabolism has always been this way.

I spent this morning not charging $200/hr.

New today: Baked potato bar in the food court.  Which is remarkably filling when you take like an entire salad bar worth of toppings.  (I was skeptical at first because the potatoes were like fist-sized and you could only take one two.)
All 3 conference rooms were occupied, but Katie had the bright idea that we could use the tall tables and chairs that are by the coffee.

I spent this afternoon actually doing my job.

Cate and I went to Taming of the Shrew (see previous entry).  I got home around 11pm, hence not posting.

Friday

It snowed in the morning.

A few minutes before 5, Scott -- whom I hadn't seen all week -- showed up.  We hugged and twirled 540 degrees because I fail at 360.  I told him about sermon-writing and he said, "I wasn't tagged in that facebook note," and I said, "Because we're not facebook friends -- I looked for you on facebook a while back and couldn't find you."  So he logged on to facebook (where we learned that there are 5 people with my name but with the surname spelled the other way, and 5 people -- myself included -- with my name who spell the surname my way) and friended me.  Can I say how much I love that his response to my telling him about my having finished my sermon was, "Why haven't I gotten to read it?"

We chatted for like 20 minutes and then walked to the T together.  As we were leaving campus, my housemate called me to tell me that we had no power.  Her phone number's the one one file with National Grid for our apartment, so she'd gotten a voicemail about this -- indicating we wouldn't have power until ~2am (flames 25 feet high and flying manhole covers -- good times).  She had called Rachel before she called me, and Rachel said we could stay with them.

I felt like I would have been okay spending the night with no heat (that's what blankets are for, after all) but just in packing an overnight bag I realized how irritating it was to try to do anything in the dark.  [On my way home, ~6pm, I passed a house where people had trufac lit candles.  Yeah, we are at the time of year where the sun sets around 6pm.]

I love the tight twirl I HAVE MISSED YOU hugs I get from Scott, and I also really enjoy the boyfriendy "it is good to see you" hug-cuddle that I got from Jason when I showed up at Local 50.

We joined their foodler order from Lilly's Gourmet Pasta.  I got spinach gnocchi with pink vodka sauce -- v. tasty (though I thought I asked for Sundried Tomatoes and instead I got halved Cherry Tomatoes).  Later, Ricky made us all Caipirinha.  Eh, alcoholic sugar water is not so much my thing,

The ALCS game was on the tv, which I was so uninterested in, so I played on my computer (Cate says my laptop is sexy), including checking out Scott's facebook profile.  As a preface to making commentary, I explained that that he's my favorite doctoral student and blah blah blah.  The first thing Rachel said was, "Why aren't you dating him?"  ♥

Saturday

The day was sunny and often warmer than I had expected, which was good.

Kim and James did the bulk of the work of helping Allie move, but once we were unloading the van I felt like I was being useful enough to merit my taking up space there.

We read from 14,000 things to be happy about (revised and updated) while we waited for Alma.  ...  Interesting.

We broke for lunch at Bloc 11.  I got The Maple -- which I hadn't realized was a salad.  They gave it to me in a takeaway container because they were out of salad plates, which was actually good as I ended up taking some home (I did have a late breakfast of 2 egg&cheese sandwiches from Dunkin's).

Ari called me ~4pm.
We talked for 2 hours.  ♥
In telling a story, I said, "especially since he's been socialized as a guy."  Ari said, "I love that we're so careful about our language around gender -- and by 'us' I mean 'you'."  I said, "I was actually going to say that I think one of the big reasons I am so careful with language around gender is because of you -- because it is so frequently a part of our conversations."

Sunday

~4pm, it looked like clumps of snow were falling outside my window.  It then appeared to have dissipated, but when I was on facebook later the recent statuses of local friends confirmed that I had not been hallucinating.  (And at 4:16pm my mom TEXTED me.)  ~4:30 it had resumed in earnest, so I got to walk in it all the way to church.  I kept telling myself, "It's October; I should be upset about this," but I kept giggling and singing to myself "This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."

***

( gym: Oct. 13-16 )

I went to bed at like 10:30 last night.  I'm definitely getting over my cold, though I'm sure more sleep last night would have helped.

Waiting to cross Mem Drive on my way in to work this morning, a truck drove by and the guy in the passenger seat made lewd suggestions at me.  I mostly just found this really bizarre because: You are in a truck, so it's not like I could take you up on this even if I wanted to.  (Yes I am used to being propositioned by guys on the street, and I'm usually a mixture of flattered and amused.)  Yeah, I understand better now why women complain about feeling like a piece of meat.

( gym )

I came in to an email from Scott from like 2am:

Fwah!  I miss you! I've definitely been at HBS for at least seven hours a day every day for the past week. But all those hours seem to be between 7 PM and 2 AM :-(.

How are you? Are the staplers taking care of themselves?

I will hopefully be around tomorrow afternoon. And will hopefully see you then!

And how bonus awesome is it to have someone who is so adorable and who so delights me and with whom I am not, have never been, and will never be, in love?

On my way to lunch, I passed Nicole and she said hi to me and we exchanged pleasantries and I said, "You must be on your way somewhere" (because she was part of a moving herd).
Nicole: "Yeah, we're on our way to build circuit boards.  --  Give me a hug, though."  \o/

The Global Vegetarian buffet had butternut squash + risotto + hazelnuts, which I kinda wanted to taste-test, but since the only other thing I would have been getting were the red bliss potatoes, I opted for protein (i.e., burrito).

And I developed a headache later in the afternoon.  Sigh.  I still got work done, though -- proving that I am not a completely avoidant slacker.

I borrowed Laura Ruth's Inclusive Bible for the lectionary passages I'm totally not preaching on.  And Betsy was sharing apples for the deacon's meeting and gave me one just because I was passing through the kitchen.  V. tasty!

I couldn't handle getting tofu stirfry again, so I got garlic mashed potatoes from the "international" buffet and salad bar (which for me equals: spinach, mushrooms, broccoli, kidney beans, shredded carrots).

Katie and I ate lunch outside. weather.com says it's 85F, only 41% humidity. This is not what I was expecting, but I'm not complaining.

I have apparently turned into someone who can talk about Charmed. Thanks almost entirely to catching snippets on TNT's epic syndication (this morning's 8am episode was one I had already seen at the gym, and I swear that wasn't that long ago -- apparently they air 3 episodes each morning, and I'm at the gym every other morning, so I get roughly every seventh episode, which apparently gets me through 8 seasons in a not very long time -- though admittedly my sense of time this summer hasn't been great).

From Laura Ruth's email to the listserv:

Our service of Rest and Bread begins tonight at 6:15, with music for meditation at 6.

I want to testify how lovely it is to come at 6, to be sunk into prayer, all alone, next to someone who is also sunk in prayer. It is an amazing way to be community together. We'd love to sit next to you.

Tonight's reflection is on St. Barnabas, a man who's name means "son of encouragement."

Psalm 112 (I dislike that the Psalm so often seems unrelated to the Sacred Text and Reflection) and a reading from Acts.

Laura Ruth did the Reflection.  She talked about how she has thought of Barnabas as just a name in a story, but he was a flesh and blood human being, as they all were, and so she wanted to flesh out his story.  So she pieced together the various mentions we get of him into a biographical narrative.  My favorite part was that after Saul (Paul) had converted, he wanted to meet with some of the disciples who were at Jerusalem, and none of them wanted him to come, because they knew him as someone who would hurt them, but Barnabas was willing to go meet with him.

At Communion, Laura Ruth said that we are flesh and blood and we follow one who was also flesh and blood.  Then, in her Blessing and Benediction, she said, "You are a flesh and blood human being," and her next line she got all tangled up tripping over her own words so I jumped in and said, "What you are is," and as I was saying it I realized that although I knew the grammar for what she was trying to articulate, I didn't actually know how she had planned to end that sentence, so I just said firmly, "a bright, brilliant, beloved child of God."  Laura Ruth kinda looked at me (like, "That was GOOD") and said, "What she said!  Amen."  So afterward I explained that Tiffany says that a lot, that it's from a baptismal liturgy and Tiffany preached a sermon recently using a story about it (which story she told again on Pentecost, when we baptized Lucas) and had us turn to our neighbor and say it to our neighbor and then have it said back to us, and she said our homework for that week was to look at ourselves in the mirror each day (you could put on you makeup or whatever first) and say it to ourselves.

Oh, and Keith brought us back to doing the sung "God have mercy"/"Thanks be to God" responses, which I was glad of.  (He asked me before service what I thought of that and I said I very much endorsed that choice.)

***

My dad emailed me about my high school's graduation this past Sunday.  Three of our former next door neighbors' kids.  The little sister of my former best friend (which best friend now has both a J.D. and an LL.M.).  A girl I sort of tutored briefly when I was in high school.  The younger son of a family that no longer attends our church.  I haven't seen any of these kids in years (some more years than others, which makes it weirder, as I think of them as stalled at the age I last saw them), so it's weird to think of them as turning into adults.

***

( this part feels excessively emo now that it's been like 6 hours since I wrote it )

***

( joy sadhana )

[FirstChurch Mailing List] Show Our Pride this Thursday
Each year just before the LGBT Pride March in Boston, First Church folks hand out rainbow-colored, cross-shaped lollipops to passers-by in front of church. The Growth Committee needs volunteers to help us do this again this year. It will happen this Thursday, June 11 from 5pm to 7pm. Can you come for part or all of that time and help us celebrate Pride? Please email me if you can make it. Thanks.
Cindy

Before service tonight, Laura Ruth opened up a box of these and asked me to include one with each bulletin.  I'm still gonna go visit tomorrow evening, though -- because I really don't need lollipops but depending on who's tabling I'm likely to want to hang out and chat.

( gym )

***

My mom emailed me:

FW: WBZ-TV & TV38 Morning Update

How NOT to deal with New England winters

---

Man Burns Home Melting Ice With Blowtorch

New Bedford fire officials say a homeowner using a blowtorch to melt ice on his back porch set the home on fire causing up to $30,000 in damage.

***

Rich stopped by during lunch and joked with MaryAlice about Festivus.  I said that at the holiday party I went to last night, someone was like, "So, Solstice, Christmas, Hannukah, what else are we celebrating?" and Nick (?) said, "Christmuhanukwanzukah," and I said, "Festivus," even though I've never seen that Seinfeld episode nor do I even like Seinfeld.  Relating this conversation reminded me that I had meant to look up when Kwanzaa actually is.

***

I went to the OSS holiday party around 5.  Because it had been rescheduled from Friday, turnout was much lower than usual.  I know most of the OSS guys, but it's not like we're friends, and I'm no good with small talk anyway, so I mostly stood around.  I started off with a Parrot Bay (passion fruit & mango) and then had a glass of the punch Rey had put together, which was really tasty but after I finished that in the first hour as well (Rey said, "I see you, drinking that like it's water") I said I was done, " 'cause the more I drink, the more I wanna make out with people."  Ramone goes, "get this lady another drink," which, yes, is funny, but as I said after I finished my second glass of punch (which I nursed for about an hour), "There's nobody here who's gonna make out with me, so..."  I'm not really good with that kind of joking around 'cause I'm often not intuitively good at reading the serious-ness level, and I also often don't find it all that fun to engage if it's not actually serious.

( joy sadhana )

( gym )

It occurred to me that it was the day after Labor Day last year (Sept. 4, so calendar anniversary tomorrow) that I started going to the gym every single workday morning.  Of all the days I've been at work since then, I've only missed the gym twice.

***

Global Vegetarian at the Grille today was Greece, so I got spanikopita and orzo salad w/ navy beans and feta.  I am so glad to have food options again.  And somehow I had failed to notice (or had forgotten?) that the Grille offers grilled cheese as an option.  Not substantive enough for a real lunch, of course, but still.

***

Things I have learned tonight:

1. Streaming C-SPAN totally slows down my computer.

2. The dKos community is basically useless for liveblogging the RNC.  They totally have their narrative set already and nothing that actually happens is going to change that.  (Which was equally true of the DNC liveblog, but those I was skimming after the fact, whereas here I'm watching in real time and sometimes thinking, "Gee, that's an interesting point," but the live threads were so high traffic you could barely get a word in edgewise and everyone just wanted to slam the Republicans on everything, so I didn't even bother.)

2a. What the dKos "Front Page" is -- no thanks to the actual dKos community.
Someone posted a diary to act as a liveblog and at one point someone posted a comment saying there was a live thread on the "front" page.  I replied asking for a link, explaining I didn't understand what this "front page" was as different from the main Diary page.  Said person later actually rec'd my comment but didn't actually reply.  I found the "official" live thread/s by stalking the person's comment aggregate page, but still.  (It later occurred to me that there's a dKospedia for this purpose.  And okay, it's just dailykos.com -- as opposed to dailykos.com/Diary -- which is intuitive, but still.

2b/3. Okay, I had no time for a gazillion comments on the dKos liveblog threads of "noun, verb, 9/11" during Giuliani, but Giuliani (and the audience) LAUGHING at Obama having been a community organizer.  srsly?  And "Drill, baby, drill"?  This is why people don't like you, Republicans.

Okay, that is not so much something I "learned" as a rant.  Let's return this to "liveblogging."

Am I supposed to be supporting an "undivided Jerusalem"?  Clearly I'm not up on my Israel-Palestine politics.

Okay, Gov. Palin, your VP acceptance speech is not supposed to be all about your family.  Srsly.  This has been what, 10 minutes?  Roll call's scheduled for 20 minutes from now...  [11pm -- though of course if the DNC is any indication, the big name speakers go overtime.]

Okay, the little girl holding baby Trig and stroking his hair is adorable.

What is up with audiences chanting or booing or whatever so much that the speaker can't keep talking?

And like 10 minutes later we finally get consistently substantive remarks (plus a few nice soundbites -- most of which I'd heard before).

Government is too big, and the Democrats want to grow it.  This from the party that brought us the Patriot Act?  (I am of course always pointing out that both parties these days want big government, they just want big government for different things.)  The Democratic candidate wants to raise taxes and take more of your money.  And my instinctual reaction is, "To pay for increased social services."  I am nothing if not an equal opportunity contrarian -- and this isn't even being contrary, it's just wanting to point out the other side, as I always do.  Way to go RNC, your keynote speaker makes me wanna identify as a liberal (a Democrat, even).

( gym )

This week, the pasta station has been rotated out for papusas.  Sigh.  The students come back next week (Registration/Orientation Tues-Thurs, class on Friday), so I'm hopeful that the Grille will reopen then as well.  (I had egg rolls from the International buffet -- China -- for lunch today.)

For dinner I made myself Annie's mac&cheese (shells, white cheddar) and a Quorn chik'n patty (in the toaster oven -- phear my classiness).

***

Saturday afternoon I was on facebook and saw that Ava was having a birthday "jamboree" at Zuzu that night.  I phoned her to get details (like time) and left a voicemail (what time? happy belated bday, so stoked to see you).  I called again at 8:30pm and 9:30pm, no answer.  I left her a facebook comment on Sunday saying I'd left her a voicemail to get details but she hadn't called me back so I was sorry I hadn't gotten to party with her and we should definitely hang out sometime.  She called me back this afternoon, apologetic (her ringer was set to some setting that meant she didn't hear it, and she ended up not getting out there until like 11 'cause of various shit), she felt really bad seeing my missed calls and stuff, and she couldn't talk for very long 'cause her phone battery was low, but I'm such a good friend and her schedule's really in flux but we should definitely make plans to have dinner sometime.

I flaked on ever claiming my free birthday dessert at Finale (even though Heather totally said she'd go with me! -- July was a busy month, shuddup), but one of the emails I got while I was away was:

We're having an end of summer celebration and you're invited. Chef Nicole Coady has created a refreshing new dessert we call the Coconut Caipirihna. It is a lime genoise cake with drunken pineapple and rich coconut crème ($8.95).

Because we value your loyalty, we have put a complimentary Coconut Caipirihna on your Sweet Rewards Card. You may redeem the dessert at any Finale location when you buy any other Plated Dessert (http://www.finaledesserts.com/menus-viewmenus.php) in the dining room on or before September 21st, 2008, the official last day of summer.

Actually, it occurs to me that co-worker!Katie's birthday is September 13 and I could offer to take her out to Finale (you have to buy a plated dessert to get the freebie, and I could just buy her a dessert as a birthday gift).

***

As usual, once you're aware of something, you notice it.  Our last full day in Venice, we went out to the island of Murano.  One of the Brenda Rickman Vantrease novels I read in Rome mentioned Murano glass, and then T Time in this morning's metro:

'Murano Glass' Exhibit
Through Sept. 12
Tomorrow-Saturday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
Galleria Florentia
79 Newbury St., Boston
MBTA: Green Line to Copley
Free, [phone number redacted]
www.galleriaflorentia.com
More than 50 pieces of stunning Murano delights are on hand at this Newbury Street gallery which specializes in Italian pieces, both classical and modern. The centuries-old Murano process forges kaleidoscopic technicolor into its glass wonders. The Florentia has an array of pieces that break down into vases, planets, musical instruments décor, sea animals and Impressionist-inspired and more abstract works.

I actually don't have much to say in terms of actual life update.
* Wednesday, Allie and I went to see a Japanese film at the MFA and had dinner at Qdoba afterward.
* Thursday, Cate came and had lunch with me at work (and took back the UK cell phone she'd loaned me last summer, in preparation for her own return trip to Scotland).
* Talking to CAUMC!Ian (not to be confused with "my" Ian -- i.e., my coworker Ian) on Thursday night, I realized that a major source of my work stress recently has been that there's been stuff (Prof.B's trip to the MidEast primarily) that I haven't been fully looped in on, have been only partially coordinating, and that makes me feel out of control and anxious.
* I've been unimpressed with the food at work recently, which is sad.  I feel like I've been living on pasta and burritos.
* Friday was the last day of teaching, so there was much drinking and celebrating.
* I feel sort of like a bad friend that I'm not going to Smith College Commencement this year, but everyone I know who's graduating is so busy that I wouldn't really see them much.

***

( gymmage )

***

( Hillary Clinton, West Virginia, etc. )

***

( Jeremiah Wright, racism, etc. )

***

Thursday I watched some of "Breakfast with the Sox" on NESN HD on the tv in the weight room.  I got to watch Manny Ramirez high-fiving the fan, and giving a one-handed neckrub to the guy he was sitting next to (Jacoby Ellsbury?) in the dugout.

***

( Boston Pride interfaith services )

***

Thursday: California Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban (NYT link via oyceter) ( Read more... )

***

Friday links from soundingsea:
* Stuff That White People Like
* XKCD

***

( I can barely bring myself to read the_red_shoes' twlight_spork posts in their entirety, but omg, I was dying laughing  ) ( and a moment of more serious critique )

The link I had to the Dolhouse Upfront video has been taking down due to copyright concerns, but I took notes when I watched it on Friday.  ( commentary )

***

saeva argues against the colloquial fannish use of the verb "pimp."  [Edit: Alternatives to "Pimp" Poll -- link via metafandom]