"Church" is...

Sorry, I'm going to link to another article on Boundless.com: Stop Going to Church

I wasn't sure where he was going with that when I started reading, and the use of U2 lyrics made me smile, but it's a good article.

"When our churches have more in common with fortresses, shopping malls and cemeteries, who can blame America for not liking the church, for not receiving in her, for not joining the movement?"

"We say we want community, but are unwilling to make the sacrifices for it to happen. It's too inconvenient and messy. We want the benefit of church without her demands. Something has to change."

"Sometimes the church looks like a pizza party, and sometimes it looks like a sports utility vehicle." Ha-ha...really not as out there as it sounds out of context.

It's actually encouraging to read these sort of articles, because although they are pointing out how so many churches are straying from what they should be doing, the fact that someone else is writing about it means we're not the only traditional ones in the midst of all the emergent churches. Once again, I'm glad our church is like that. Church isn't judging, nor is it telling people they're perfectly fine and acceptable. Church isn't just going once a week and getting it done.--I believe the Catholic churches are better about working out a handy schedule for that if that's what you want... :/ -- Church is having brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage and help you and worship with you.

Excuse me while I cough on you

So, I think I mentioned I have a cold...yes? Unfortunately it's one that's settled in my chest (which I hadn't had happen yet this year) and I'm now slowly coughing to death. Well, not really. I hope. But I am coughing. In a few hours I can go take some generic Mucinex and hopefully that will help matters some. In the meantime my chest and shoulders ache terribly and I'm utterly fed up with coughing.

I went to church this morning, and it was communion Sunday, so I'm glad I was able to make it, but I feel pretty bad. I was coughing when I got up -from not sleeping much- this morning but figured I'd get over it the longer I was up. I didn't...and realized that half-way to church. Oh well. At the break I went over to Panera and got some hot tea and that's the only way I made it through the service without coughing my head off.

I got two kinds of tea that are supposed to help with coughing...neither has helped much, nor has the cough medicine I took earlier.

Moral of this story? One should keep up with taking their Vitamin D every day, and when they're coming down with a cold not go out for lunch with a friend, hike all over downtown, and run lots of errands all on the same day, which I did. And it may or may not have had an effect on how I'm feeling now. I'll definitely be diligent about the Vitamin D from now on... :/

I was going to write more, but my brain's too rattled to think. I hate to leave this as a whiny blog post. Hmm... My knitting project (the dress) is going well. :) I'm about to start working on the skirt part.

More costume fun

Colin dressed up as a hunter for halloween this year.


















Getting the stuff for his costume involved going to Walmart...but they do sell camo and orange hunter's hats there.


















I decided that instead of dressing as gypsy again I needed something a little warmer and that didn't require the massive amounts of makeup that I put on before. So I dressed as a gangster:


















And I tied that tie myself. :) I did have to look up instructions online because while I knew how to at one point, I'd forgotten. But I tied it.


















It was raining or drizzling almost all the time we were out, so we were kinda soggy by the time we got back home, but it wasn't too bad. My feet and the hems of my pants got soaked but the rest of me wasn't too wet.


















When we got home I started answering the door and handing out the candy, while Colin sat on the floor and poked through his candy.

I also found out that he's apparently great friends with the lady down the street. We went up to their house where their dog was sitting at the door and he says "Oh, there's Murphy!"
So I'm telling Mom about this when we get home, and she explains that Colin always talks to the lady when she walks the dog up the street.

"Oh, okay," I say. "I don't know her name or the dog's name, all I know is that she works....or used to work at Harris Teeter. Maybe she doesn't any....."

"Oh, no!" Colin interrupts, "She doesn't work there anymore, she works at Food Lion." Oh...well, okay then. Strange, un-shy, extroverted child.

And I forget that for some reason younger guys will just talk to me. There's a group of middle school/high school (I can't tell how old they are) guys that skateboard in the street where I have to avoid running them over. Anyway, they came around trick-or-treating tonight and when I answered the door they just started talking.
Guys: "What are you?"
Me: "I'm a gangster."
Guy 1: "Oh so am I.
Guy 2: "Me too."
Guy 3: "Yeah!" (Real creative lot these four...)
Guy 1: "Except I'm not a mafia sort of gangster, I'm like a modern gangster...ya know.."
Me: "Right! Gotcha."
Guy 2 (looking at my hat): "Cool! I've got a hat like that...except mine's solid black."
Guy 4: "I'm a black guy." (He was dressed in black...not exactly politically-correct, but I'm not one for being overly PC.)
Me: "Ah! I see...nice!" (While trying to put candy in the sopping wet paper grocery bag he was carrying) "Wow, that's kinda falling apart..."
Guy 4: "Yup. That's what they said at the last house too... Thank you!"

Anyway, they made me laugh. I don't know if I have some sort of sign that says "I get along well with younger guys" "I'm not too stuck up to talk to you if you're nice" or what... It amuses me. I remember being eleven or so and a little boy in the neighborhood always wanted me to be on his team when we played kickball and thought I was pretty cool. And it still happens...give them a 2-6 year age gap and we'll probably be great pals. :D

Ah...anyway...I should be taking some cough medicine and getting to bed. (I have a bit of a cold and a very annoying cough.)

Oh...it's November.

Fog and sun and thoughts

It's October 28th and yet it doesn't really feel a lot like fall today. It's rather warm again. Not unpleasantly warm, for the most part, but warmer than it should be. It was wonderfully foggy this morning when I got up, because it rained all last night. It was foggy and there were a couple of large crows marching down the street. Very Edgar Allen Poe. Of course as soon as I went to get my camera and try to get a picture a car came by and scared them off. Ah...nevermore.

I just got back from taking a walk up to the playground and swinging for a while. Quite a pleasant activity in the sun, although I was quite warm by the time I got home.

Last night was a costume contra dance...since in Winston it's the dance closest to halloween because there's no dance on Saturday. It was fun, most of the people dressed up, although some didn't bother. I dressed as a gypsy, which I will also do when I take Colin trick-or-treating. Yes...we do that. I also wore my cape instead of a coat (and it was very good for keeping the rain off!) but I didn't get a picture in that.

Anyway:































And Laura...she was a pirate...although she looks rather like a gypsy also:


















Two thoughts occured to me about contra yesterday and today. One (and Laura and I were discussing this), she has an almost completely different group of guys who ask her to dance than I do. There is some overlap, but for the most part she'll mention a partner and I'll finally figure out that I have seen them, but never danced with them and therefore may or may not know their name and same for her if I say who I danced with. We couldn't figure out why this is, but it's odd...

And secondly, I'm really good at reading body language and telling how a person is feeling, which is sometimes good and sometimes bad...and very interesting at contra because during a swing I can tell pretty fast what sort of mood the other person is in. I say it's interesting at contra, because usually people are in a good mood...but occasionally I can tell they aren't really. I guess in general it's good to be able to tell how people are feeling so I don't bumble into their mood saying something grating, but it's also sometimes alarming. What do you think? Can you tell how people are feeling?

Oh...one of the dances last night was called "The Dead Cat Bounce" at which I made a strange face and the guy across from me just burst out laughing. "Oh my...the look on your face...that was priceless!" Well...really, with a name like that...

Balance and swing your neighbor
Men allemande left halfway,
Partner allemande right 1x
Men start hey for 4
(Men go halfway, but women ricochet back to the side where they start by meeting in the center and pushing back with both hand.)
Circle left
Partner swing on the side
Ladies chain, star left, pass through to new neighbors.

"So what, are we the dead cats bouncing off of each other?" said one lady. :D I have no idea...

I started knitting a glove last week...I think it was last week. Yeah. Well, I got the cuff and the hand part done and moved on to the fingers...and found that there was no way I could fit my fingers in, as tight as they were going to be. So I had to take out a whole finger and am going to try knitting it on bigger needles. By the way, if you have long fingers and want someone to knit you gloves, you'd better pick someone who loves you a lot, because it's extremely tedious to knit glove fingers. :D This is the first time I've regretted having long fingers. So, I have to knit that finger all over again, and hopefully it will work this time.

And now I should go peel some potatoes to make mashed potatoes for on top of the shepherd's pie I'm making for supper.

Meme

Mom did a meme, and I thought I'd do it also. Google your name with "unfortunately" before it and see what you find. Most of the ones I found involved Natalies being sick or getting injured. Wow. That's not a good sign. But I found a few:

• Unfortunately, Natalie had no other clothes with her.

• Unfortunately, Natalie was involved in a huge wreck off the start.

• Unfortunately, Natalie defied John's orders to throw the game for Flynn and as a result she was kidnapped by Flynn.

• Unfortunately, Natalie's response continues to be an annoyingly familiar "No".

• Unfortunately, Natalie and Jordan are still restless, so they continue decorating dishes.

• Unfortunately, Natalie instigated one ADHD incident of the serious type.

• Unfortunately, Natalie is no longer in the herd. But she sure was a fun heifer for the shows!

• Unfortunately, Natalie didn't see the public service announcement.

• Unfortunately, Natalie wants a love match, and Lord Malcolm doesn't believe in love.

• Unfortunately, Natalie couldn't get them in her suitcase, so I inherited them.

• Unfortunately Natalie had seriously underestimated the sheer animal cunning of her giant squid stalker which cunningly disguised its smallest tentacle as a bicycle tyre.

So there you have it. :) It's Monday. :P

War and Peace, bits and pieces, and a few thoughts

I've almost finished reading War and Peace. All I've got left is 30-some pages of the second epilogue. Yes, there are two epilogues. I've finished all of the story and all that's left is what one Twitter follower warned me was "sermonizing". Yeah, pretty much. Analytical sermonizing. But I'm basically finished with the book. I liked it a lot. It's took me a little while to get used to keeping track of the characters, because they all have maybe three different names they are called, so for instance "Prince Andrew" might be called by his Russian last name on the next page, and the next by his familiar name, or something like that.

And I had quite a hard time getting both volumes from the library because they have the same number and they only sent me one. So I just requested it (again) on Mom's card, and I got the second volume. :) I could start on about the incompetency of the public libraries lately, but I'll refrain.

War and peace....well, some of the war parts were a little tedious, but not too bad. And the peace part was interesting, and the whole book is very well-written. It's one of those books that clearly shows you how the characters are feeling, plus Tolstoy throws in lots of good points, and ironic, amusing sentences that made me burst out laughing. I was dog-earring the pages all the while, and probably on average dog-earred it every eighth inch or so. Poor Volume 2 got it the hardest. It had been dog-earred before though, or I might have thought twice about bending the pages. As it was, I folded them gently. :)

So, here are some of the passages that I really liked or made me laugh. And maybe it's just me, or maybe some of them won't be funny out of context, so bear with me. :) I cut some names to try to avoid spoiling the story for people who haven't read it, but I'm not sure if it helped any.

"Touched that this statuesque princess could so change, Pierre took her hand and begged her forgiveness, without knowing what for. From that day the eldest princess quite changed towards Pierre and began knitting a striped scarf for him." --The knitting got me... :D

"I am very sorry you did not find me in yesterday. I was fussing about with Germans all day. We went with Weyrother to survey the dispositions. When Germans start being accurate, there's no end to it!" --True, true.

"Better quarters could have been found him, but Marshal Davout was one of those men who purposely put themselves in most depressing conditions to have a justification for being gloomy." --I think I've met people like that.

"Pfuel was one of those hopelessly and immutably self-confident men, self-confident to the point of martyrdom as only Germans are, because only Germans are self-confident on the basis of an abstract notion -science, that is, the supposed knowledge of absolute truth."

"M. de Beausset, the man so fond of travel, having fasted since morning, came up to the Emperor and ventured respectfully to suggest lunch to his Majesty.
'I hope I may now congratulate your Majesty on a victory?' said he.
Napoleon silently shook his head in negation. Assuming the negation to refer only to the victory and not to the lunch, M. de Beausset ventured with respectful jocularity to remark that there is no reason for not having lunch when one can get it."

"When loving with human love one may pass from love to hatred, but divine love cannot change. No, neither death nor anything else can destroy it." --Indeed.

"...the infantry of the belated columns...had started in due order and, as always happens, had got somewhere, but not to their appointed places."

"...the peasants Karp and Vlas...after the French had evacuated Moscow drove in their carts to pillage the town, and in general personally failed to manifest any heroic feelings..."

" 'Greatness', it seems, excludes the standards of right and wrong. For the 'great' man nothing is wrong, there is no atrocity for which a 'great' man can be blamed.

For us with the standard of good and evil given to us by Christ, no human actions are incommensurable. And there is no greatness where simplicity, goodness, and truth are absent." --Very good point!

"Not merely in these cases but continually did that old man -who by experience of life had reached the conviction that thoughts and the words serving as their expression are not what move people-use quite meaningless words that happened to enter his head."

"He had what the doctors termed 'bilious fever'. But despite the fact that the doctors treated him, bled him, and gave him medicines to drink -he recovered."

"That dreadful question, What for? which had formerly destroyed all his mental edifices, no longer existed for him. To that question, What for? a simple answer was now always ready in his soul: 'Because there is a God, that God without whose will not one hair falls from a man's head."

" 'What can one say or think of as a consolation?' said Pierre. 'Nothing! Why had such a splendid boy, so full of life, to die?'
'Yes, in these days it would be hard to live without faith...' remarked Princess Mary.
'Yes, yes, that is really true,' Pierre hastily interrupted her.
'Why is it true?' Natasha asked, looking attentively into Pierre's eyes.
'How can you ask why?' said Princess Mary. 'The thought alone of what awaits...'
Natasha without waiting for Princess Mary to finish, again looked inquiringly at Pierre.
'And because,' Pierre continued, 'only one who believes that there is a God ruling us can bear a loss such as hers and...yours.' "

"Now that he was telling it all to [her] he experienced the pleasure which a man has when women listen to him -not clever women who when listening either try to remember what they hear to enrich their minds and when opportunity offers to re-tell it, or who wish to adapt it to some thought of their own and promptly contribute their own clever comments prepared in their own little mental workshop- but the pleasure given by real women gifted with a capacity to select and absorb the very best a man shows of himself."

" 'But why, count, why?' she almost cried, unconsciously moving closer to him. 'Why? Tell me. You must tell me!'
He was silent.
'I don't understand your why, count,' she continued, 'but it's hard for me...I confess it. For some reason you wish to deprive me of our former friendship. And that hurts me.' There were tears in her eyes and in her voice. 'I have had so little happiness in life that every loss is hard for me to bear.... Excuse me, good-bye!' and suddenly she began to cry and was hurrying from the room.
'Princess, for God's sake!' he exclaimed, trying to stop her. 'Princess!'
She turned round. For a few seconds they gazed silently into one another's eyes -and what had seemed impossible and remote suddenly became possible, inevitable and very near." --Oww, very painful. And yet it ends well.

"All who had known Natasha before her marriage wondered at the change in her as at something extraordinary. Only the old countess with her maternal instinct had realized that Natasha's outbursts had been due to her need of children and a husband... " --Heehee.

"There were then as now conversations and discussions about women's rights, the relation of husband and wife and their freedoms and rights...but these topics were not merely uninteresting to Natasha, she positively did not understand them. These questions, then as now, existed only for those who see nothing in marriage but the pleasure married people get from one another, that is, only the beginnings of marriage and not its whole significance, which lies in the family." --Ahhh...I love it. :)

Pierre went to the children, and the shouting and laughter grew still louder. 'Come, Anna Makarovna,' Pierre's voice was heard saying, 'come here into the middle of the room and at the word of command, 'One, two,' and when I say 'three'... You stand here, and you in my arms- well now! One, two!...' said Pierre, and a silence followed: 'three!' and a rapturously breathless cry of children's voices filled the room. 'Two, two!' they shouted. 'This' meant two stockings, which by a secret process known only to herself Anna Makarovna used to knit at the same time on the same needles, and which, when they were ready, she always triumphantly drew, one out of the other, in the children's presence." --Yes, that is some knitting technique, no I don't know how to do it.

"...left alone, [they] also began to talk as only a husband and wife can talk, that is, with extraordinary clearness and rapidity, understanding and expressing each other's thoughts in ways contrary to all rules of logic, without premises, deductions, or conclusions, and in a quite peculiar way. Natasha was so used to this kind of talk with her husband that for her it was the surest sign of something being wrong between them if [he] followed a line of logical reasoning. When he began proving anything, or talking argumentatively and calmly and she, led on by his example, began to do the same, she knew that they were on the verge of a quarrel." --Ah, I started out the book being annoyed by Natasha and her flightiness, but I think I relate to her a lot better than to Princess Mary, the other main female in the book. Mary cries and mopes a bit too much most of the time, although she improved by the end too. Natasha, like me, wouldn't be likely to cry in front of people who hurt her, but to get angry instead, and then perhaps cry on her own when no one's around. All the same, she's a fictional character and I didn't empathize with her all the time, but I changed my opinion of her by the end of the book. And I SO argue like that. :D

"If history had retained the conception of the ancients it would have said that God, to reward or punish his people, gave Napoleon power and directed his will to the fulfillment of the divine ends, and that reply, would have been clear and complete. One might believe or disbelieve in the divine significance of Napoleon, but for anyone believing in it there would have been nothing unintelligible in the history of that period, nor would there have been any contradictions.
But modern history cannot give that reply. Science does not admit the conception of the ancients as to the direct participation of the Deity in human affairs, and therefore history ought to give other answers. Modern history replying to these questions says: you want to know what this movement means, what caused it, and what force produced these events? Then listen:" ---At this point Tolstoy launches into a fast-paced recapping of how history should retell the story, writing it all rather as an elementary school student, with lots of 'thens' and 'suddenly's & 'and's. :D

So, there you have it. Or, the condensed version from Book-A-Minute:

"History controls everything we do, so there is no point in observing individual actions. Let's examine the individual actions of over 500 characters at great length."

Ah, well...yes. But it was worth it. :D I found the constant harping on predestination rather fascinating.

And now I've got a good 6-10 years before I need to read it again. Thick books like that don't get re-read as often as some others. :)

Now that I've typed this all up and fought with the italics, I should maybe go to bed. The HTML code was giving me fits...I had to paste it into a document, remove all the code, and re-paste it into a blog post, adding italics properly. Sheesh. At least that worked. :/

Can life BE more conflicting?

It's amazing how being happy about something can lead immediately to being discontent about something else. Inevitable, I suppose, but one of those things that makes you sigh.

I went to church with some friends last Sunday and it was fun. The sermon was alright, although very short, partially because the guy speaking apparently lost his place in his notes at some point. The music was good (I do miss being able to sing very loudly). I love to sing loudly and at our church there are only about two people who sing loudly, both of them much better than I do, so I lower my volume. So that was good, and I enjoyed being with my friends. Apart from that though, I missed our church.

I wish our church had more people, but I don't like huge churches where you don't even know everyone. My friends were looking through the new church directory and saying things like "Oh, those people are married?" and such.

I don't like youth groups, college groups, age-segregated Bible studies, and things like that. I think having everyone divided up and only around their peers is not following the Titus 2 commandments that the older men and women encourage and teach the younger. Talking to your peers can be encouraging of course, but if that's mostly all you get you're only going to be bouncing ideas and opinions off of each other with no other wiser perspective to think about.

I read this article on Boundless this week, and I completely agree with it. Quarantining a Generation

On the other hand, it made me wish I had my own apartment so I could have groups of my friends (of all ages) over. Have people over for game nights, or open houses, or whatever. Our house is rather small though, and I wouldn't want to impose on my parents with my extroversion.

Speaking of which, my mom said I'm a "single extrovert". She has a very good point. Technically, I'm introverted. I don't usually talk a lot, I'm not a high-energy person, after hanging out with people and talking for a long time I usually need quiet and time to recharge without anyone bothering me, etc. On the other hand, if I feel blah, it helps for me to talk to my friends. I enjoy being with people until I'm tired, it makes me happy. "But," said Mom, "if you had a husband you would..." "I'd just talk to him of course," I interrupted. And she's got a point. If I was married I'd have my best friend to talk to at almost any time and that would probably be enough most of the time. So...I am a single extrovert.

But anyway, as I was saying, I started wishing I had my own apartment. With one or two roommates of course, though I don't think I know anyone needing an apartment who would make a good roommate for me. Plus, I don't make enough to afford 1/2 or 1/3 of the rent of an apartment. Or rather, I do, but that's just about all. I don't make enough to afford the car that I would have to have, my share of the utilities, groceries, etc. I already buy my own clothes and toiletries, but groceries aren't cheap, and neither is a car and all the stuff that goes with it. So I would have to get a different or a second job and would be working a lot.

I didn't even know how much rent is for an apartment, so I was looking online to see what there is around here. Lots of apartments, that's what. :D I'd prefer something within fifteen minutes from work, so I ended up looking at the apartment complex my friend Jess lived in before she moved, and the place we lived in before we moved to our house, because those are the only two apartment complexes in Winston that I've actually been inside and know what they're like.

Jess' place was pretty nice (apart from some gosh-awful wallpaper border in the apartment) and fairly expensive too, I find. Granted, in that case you're also paying for a gated apartment complex that apparently is hardly ever actually gated because the gate breaks. Woo-hoo. So, fairly nice, expensive, not really as safe as it's supposed to be.

Then the place we used to live in is okay and cheaper. It's definitely older, and there was some reason my parents got fed up with the management, but it's a decent price, and pretty good apartments, safe neighborhood and all. Though you're likely to get sap on your car from all the pine trees...unless they've all fallen down since when we were there. :D

But as I thought, I couldn't afford to live in either of those places, without all the extra work that I mentioned. Oh well, I have an idea of what apartments cost now at any rate.

My point however, which I think I've lost track of, is that I was feeling happy about our church, and I'm looking forward to going there this week, but in wanting to get together with the people in my church I started feeling discontented about where I live. We just never can be content, can we? :(

Let me add another layer to my geeky-ness

I hadn't ever watched a whole episode of Star Trek before...I kind of knew the basic idea of the show and had seen bits and pieces of it before.

But anyway, Mom was listening to some knitting podcast that mentioned tribbles, and she was telling Dad about it, at which point I was wondering what tribbles were. Star Trek critters. Fluffballs. Sci-fi animate fluffballs, with no discernible features. They purr, reproduce like rabbits, and eat a lot. Okay then. So, I found the tribbles episode of Star Trek on YouTube, and watched it.

The Trouble With Tribbles

And while I was watching it, I was thinking that Spock is really a Jeeves to Captain Kirk. Logical, full of information, and slightly above the foolishness of all the other people. :D So yesterday when I was looking for Jeeves & Wooster clips I found this, and thought "Ha! So I'm not the only one who thought that!"



I'm hardly about to become a "trekkie" but I enjoyed watching some Star Trek. :)

Wodehouse day

So it's Wodehouse Day...P.G. Wodehouse's birthday. However I have no idea what to do to "celebrate". I could go around talking in a British accent all day, but I really don't feel like doing that. I could watch episodes of "Jeeves and Wooster" (that sounds better, it would be cheery anyway). Or I could start re-reading "The Adventures of Sally", which is a very funny, cute book. Maybe I'll do that. It's rainy and cold here today...which while gloomy, is probably accurate, seeing as it supposedly rains all the time over in England.

In the meantime, here are some clips to enjoy.



These ones don't allow embedding, so here are the links:

Minnie the Moocher

Jeeves Disapproves

And the Jeeves and Wooster theme:


Ah, nothing like Hugh Laurie and Steven Fry for some good British comedy.