another miscellaneous post

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• I listened to Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith on the way back from DC. The chapters switch between some contemporary fundamentalist Mormon communities (FLDS) and the history of Mormonism. He notes that any religion can and does breed extremism, and even violence, but looks particularly at what it is about the LDS church that seems to encourage separatism (ah, the dangers of direct revelations from God for those who are mentally ill). The book also made me think about what religious freedom in the US does and does not entail. I'd recommend it (beware the grisly parts).

• The shoes came. I am so in love with them. They are fabulous, funky, and comfortable. I will post a pic soon.
• Turning into annoying married person alert: I meet my brother's new girlfriend, and I want to tell him that I like her and not to mess it up.
• I don't mind working with children and youth. They're great. It's their parents that make me crazy.
• As much as I like preaching, which I do (it's one of my favorite parts of the job), scheduling the deacon, DRE, and a youth preacher so that I'm only preaching one Sunday in March and one in May allows one to get some much needed administrative work done.
  
• Other good part of job: being able to consider community work work time. I'm on a task force to end chronic homelessness in the county. This committee helps me feel less like a cog/less like a pacifier (believe it or not). I'm also getting to learn lots about homelessness in different communities.
  

according to microsoft word...

..."Triduum" is not a word. The suggested changes are atrium, iridium, and tritium.

Nice.

latest shoe obsession

i'm so used to being a student that i still act like one sometimes, spending wise, more or less (except for that whole "mortgage" and "extravagant trip to paris"). during grad school, the bottleneck had gotten somewhat severe. when the mr and i both started having incomes about 1.5 years ago, i shopped more. however, the practical streak knows it's better to do other things with our money, things like paying off student loans, that kinda fun stuff.

i don't think i've bought accessories, shoes, or clothes for about three months. this really isn't that big of a feat since there was christmas in the middle of it, in which i received a great purple jacket and some new fun earrings. but i have been avoiding target, so that's something.

and then. this morning when i went to recycle the garnet hill catalog, because i didn't want to get anything and because thought there wouldn't be anything in there that would interest me anyhow since i'm not yet 40, it fell open to this page.

lust at first sight. ah, you kicky orange mary janes. why must you torture me?

what think ye, fair reader?

book #9: reading challenge 2008

Zadie Smith's On Beauty addresses a lot of issues fairly well, particularly marriage, race, class, and ethnicity, though it does so a bit self-consciously. Overall, it's a pretty good read. I hope to pick up White Teeth, her first novel, at some point this year.

I've now read the same amount of books that most American women read in an entire year. I'm officially somewhat scared.

***
I couldn't give two shits about Valentine's Day, except for the fact that my mom makes these insanely good valentine's day cookies. They're your basic sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles, but somehow, they're absolutely amazing. She's mailed them to me when I lived in Durham, Boston, Dallas, and New Haven. This year, I checked even the front porch when I came home. I gave literal and metaphorical meaning to the phrase "No cookies."

miscellany

book #8: reading challenge

Rowan Williams' Lost Icons: Reflections on Cultural Bereavement. Typical Rowan--very dense. My brain isn't as used to scholarly discourse anymore, being out of school and all. He deconstructs "choice" well, though, and for that, I'm grateful.

***

Last week I felt ready to throw in the towel. I hated my job. I was so frustrated, frustrated by self-centeredness, complacency, unwillingness, my own and everyone else's. This job can feel like such a joke sometime. I was almost in tears most of the week. The wear and tear of the emotional taxation of a job was showing up on my face and my body. Several parishioners took one look at me and told me to take a break. When I didn't, because I couldn't-- a funeral, Ash Wednesday, and Lent were approaching relentlessly-- several days later, a woman whose father I buried forced the phone into my hand and dialed a masseuse's number for me. I asked if she had any openings for Friday afternoon. 2:30. Fine. I hung up. I showed up to my massage on Friday (I haven't had one in about two years) to discover that one of my parishioners had beat me there to pay for it. I was nearly in tears again, this time for a totally different reason.

book #7: reading challenge 2008

This is the book that the interminable movie "The Christmas Story" is based on (I realize that sentence is grammatically bad, but I'm so not in the mood to fix it). The Mr's family loves the movie, and his aunt gave it to me for Christmas. The tone is rather prairie home companion-esque. I need something light to read before I go to sleep, and this was that. Not bad, just not go out and buy this book, unless you happen to love books about the Depression (what is it with me and Depression books lately?). The fact that I knew most of the stories already made the read anticlimactic; I don't feel that way about all stories I already know, but I do this one.

***
Can I tell you how happy I am this day is over? I'm so very happy.

ash wednesday? what?!

i bought plane tickets to go to paris for a week in late april! YES!!

in other news, being awake at 7 a.m. is perfectly fine. officiating and preaching at a 7 a.m. service is not fine, as was evidenced by the massive amount of stumbling over words.

ms rev or not's shrove tuesday planner

8:30 a.m. coffee with the rector. finalized sunday and weekday preaching through the end of may
10:00 a.m. emails re: great litany, premarriage counseling. sunday bulletin proofing
11:00 a.m. nursing home communion
12:00 p.m. finalized funeral homily, checked church set-up
1:00 p.m. funeral and reception for woman with severe alzeheimer's; first funeral homily of someone i didn't sort of kinda know
3:00 p.m. transition to independence subcommittee for task force to end chronic homelessness... realizing i should be on public awareness committee (the op-ed writers)
5:30 p.m. pancake supper/burning of the palms

the acting altar guild head made me get out the phone book and stood beside me while i called a masseuse.

***
re: the dean. being a dean is not a big deal in some ways. it's like being head of the county. i convene people. the fancy title is to make me feel better about the extra work, i suppose.

***
ash wednesday. ash wednesday. ash wednesday. ash wednesday. 4 services. one at 7 a.m. going to bed now.

it's odd

how sitting down all day can make you tired.

ah, convention.

tomorrow i will be the very rev ms rev or not... the diocese's newest dean, sent in to break up the boys' club.