Praise the Lord that all our sins were laid on Christ and He died for them...for there's no way we could ever atone for our own sins! He died for our sins and is risen, and in this lies our wonderful hope.
Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. ~Romans 8:34
Sunday, April 04, 2010
Friday, April 02, 2010
Working hard or hardly working?
If you just groaned, that's quite alright...I generally groan/wince/frown when my grandpa says that yet again, but I thought it seemed apropos.
(Incidentally I cannot seem to type "groan" properly. It kept coming out "goram" or "graon". Crazy fingers.)
I've been thinking recently about this apparent need to be busy. Provided a person isn't honestly overwhelmed with all the things they have to do, so many people seem to take a sort of pride in sighing about how they don't have time for such and such leisure activity because they're just so busy____fill in the blank: running something, working, driving places, participating in various activities, etc.
We seem to have developed a culture of busyness. In order to actually be accomplishing something and an important part of society you have to be properly "busy". If you don't have work to complain about you must be slacking off. Maturity and success seem to be partially defined by how much you accomplish...or at least appear to accomplish. As long as you keep busy with little things even, constantly having some project needing to be done "as soon as you have time!", then you're sufficiently busy.
I've been caught by this idea as well to a certain extent. I feel like I ought to be doing more than I'm already doing. I think perhaps it's a feeling of inferiority and a fear of laziness that's making me feel this way because I'm not part of the group of people who are properly busy. It seems like I know lots of people whose jobs consist of sitting at a desk and doing important things on the computer. I don't have any job that requires that, I don't have a desk piled with important papers and tasks to get done. I don't end up with much to show at the end of a work day: I didn't get anything typed up, I didn't email people about work-related things, I didn't take a lunch hour (or work through it) and then go back to the pile of projects on my desk, clocking out at fifteen after five because I was in the middle of something at five.
But is that all really necessary? And I don't say that just to justify myself; I think it's a legitimate question. I completely understand if your job really does require you to work through big piles of things and deal with annoying people...my dad has to do that all the time, and I know he's not doing it merely to stay busy. But is it necessary to put more pressure on yourself by adding extra things to your workload? I feel like I ought to have some other job to do, so that on the days I'm not working I'm still accomplishing something. So do I not accomplish anything on my days off otherwise? If I don't it's only my own fault. It may not be the typical "work" sort of things, but there's certainly plenty of cleaning, cooking, organizing that I could be doing. And when I'm done with that I can sit down and sew or knit something. Or read, or study...the list goes on.
And then my job is not typical work either, but I'm taking care of a little kid. That's important even it's not filled with things I can check off a list at the end of the day. I suppose I could look at it that way:
Do a fun activity
Read a cute book
Read an educational book
Do an activity that builds fine motor skills
Prepare a properly nutritious lunch
Etc. Check, check, check.
But how ridiculously mechanical that sounds. How about we add some planned spontaneity to that list? Not that there aren't some kids who get raised that way, but that's an entirely different subject.
Back to my point, which I've kind of lost track of, I'm not sure why one has to be busy all the time. I mean, it doesn't just depend on the job, there are moms who do the sort of things I'm doing, PLUS being involved in various activities, either for themselves or for the kids, and breathlessly exclaim that they have "No time!!".
How has this happened? Some sort of remaining Puritanical feeling that one must be diligent (which is translated as "busy"), or trying to somehow compensate for so many conveniences and fulfill some need to be working? I really have no idea. (And did I really just say 'Puritanical'? Wow.) I'm not criticizing really, so if you feel like this applies to you, I certainly don't mean to offend, I'm just curious about why we seem to feel this way. Once again, I don't mean necessary work and activities, I mean the things that give one a feeling of accomplishing things. (Does that make sense?) It all boils down to busy-work vs. real work, I guess, and I dislike busy-work no matter the situation.
Personally, I think I need to adjust my thinking as well. Focus on getting done the work I could be doing, and not feeling lazy when I then take a break to do something else. Apart from spending time on the computer most of what I do is not wasting time really, I usually do something while listening to music or watching TV, and I read some non-fiction along with my fiction. :D
I found two articles on this exact topic that I thought were interesting...at least I'm not the only person who feels this way, if nothing else. :)
Does Being Busy Add to Your Life?
Are You Suffering from "I'm So Busy" Syndrome?
Anyway, just something I've been thinking about in my usual confused way. Thoughts?
(Incidentally I cannot seem to type "groan" properly. It kept coming out "goram" or "graon". Crazy fingers.)
I've been thinking recently about this apparent need to be busy. Provided a person isn't honestly overwhelmed with all the things they have to do, so many people seem to take a sort of pride in sighing about how they don't have time for such and such leisure activity because they're just so busy____fill in the blank: running something, working, driving places, participating in various activities, etc.
We seem to have developed a culture of busyness. In order to actually be accomplishing something and an important part of society you have to be properly "busy". If you don't have work to complain about you must be slacking off. Maturity and success seem to be partially defined by how much you accomplish...or at least appear to accomplish. As long as you keep busy with little things even, constantly having some project needing to be done "as soon as you have time!", then you're sufficiently busy.
I've been caught by this idea as well to a certain extent. I feel like I ought to be doing more than I'm already doing. I think perhaps it's a feeling of inferiority and a fear of laziness that's making me feel this way because I'm not part of the group of people who are properly busy. It seems like I know lots of people whose jobs consist of sitting at a desk and doing important things on the computer. I don't have any job that requires that, I don't have a desk piled with important papers and tasks to get done. I don't end up with much to show at the end of a work day: I didn't get anything typed up, I didn't email people about work-related things, I didn't take a lunch hour (or work through it) and then go back to the pile of projects on my desk, clocking out at fifteen after five because I was in the middle of something at five.
But is that all really necessary? And I don't say that just to justify myself; I think it's a legitimate question. I completely understand if your job really does require you to work through big piles of things and deal with annoying people...my dad has to do that all the time, and I know he's not doing it merely to stay busy. But is it necessary to put more pressure on yourself by adding extra things to your workload? I feel like I ought to have some other job to do, so that on the days I'm not working I'm still accomplishing something. So do I not accomplish anything on my days off otherwise? If I don't it's only my own fault. It may not be the typical "work" sort of things, but there's certainly plenty of cleaning, cooking, organizing that I could be doing. And when I'm done with that I can sit down and sew or knit something. Or read, or study...the list goes on.
And then my job is not typical work either, but I'm taking care of a little kid. That's important even it's not filled with things I can check off a list at the end of the day. I suppose I could look at it that way:
Do a fun activity
Read a cute book
Read an educational book
Do an activity that builds fine motor skills
Prepare a properly nutritious lunch
Etc. Check, check, check.
But how ridiculously mechanical that sounds. How about we add some planned spontaneity to that list? Not that there aren't some kids who get raised that way, but that's an entirely different subject.
Back to my point, which I've kind of lost track of, I'm not sure why one has to be busy all the time. I mean, it doesn't just depend on the job, there are moms who do the sort of things I'm doing, PLUS being involved in various activities, either for themselves or for the kids, and breathlessly exclaim that they have "No time!!".
How has this happened? Some sort of remaining Puritanical feeling that one must be diligent (which is translated as "busy"), or trying to somehow compensate for so many conveniences and fulfill some need to be working? I really have no idea. (And did I really just say 'Puritanical'? Wow.) I'm not criticizing really, so if you feel like this applies to you, I certainly don't mean to offend, I'm just curious about why we seem to feel this way. Once again, I don't mean necessary work and activities, I mean the things that give one a feeling of accomplishing things. (Does that make sense?) It all boils down to busy-work vs. real work, I guess, and I dislike busy-work no matter the situation.
Personally, I think I need to adjust my thinking as well. Focus on getting done the work I could be doing, and not feeling lazy when I then take a break to do something else. Apart from spending time on the computer most of what I do is not wasting time really, I usually do something while listening to music or watching TV, and I read some non-fiction along with my fiction. :D
I found two articles on this exact topic that I thought were interesting...at least I'm not the only person who feels this way, if nothing else. :)
Does Being Busy Add to Your Life?
Are You Suffering from "I'm So Busy" Syndrome?
Anyway, just something I've been thinking about in my usual confused way. Thoughts?
Thursday, April 01, 2010
Too much of teh cute!
And another video.
The little girl I take care of is so cute and talks a lot. :) (I didn't want to put her on the video of course, so you'll only get to hear her.)
When she saw these earlier she exclaimed "Feep! Feep, right there!" Awww!
The little girl I take care of is so cute and talks a lot. :) (I didn't want to put her on the video of course, so you'll only get to hear her.)
When she saw these earlier she exclaimed "Feep! Feep, right there!" Awww!
Saturday, March 27, 2010
What's this...a vlog?!
My new iPod has a video camera, so I got the idea to make use of it and do a vlog. (Video-blog, in case you didn't know.)
Hopefully y'all can understand me...I really do mumble, I think. Either most people have gotten used to the way I talk, or they don't care if they miss an occasional word, but I'm surprised I don't get more people asking me "What??" when I talk to them. I feel rather sorry for them. Or maybe I'm the one who can't hear very well so I think I'm hard to understand. Who knows. I know I have several friends whom I have a hard time hearing sometimes. Somehow I think that's usually from an inability to block out ambient noise, rather than from deafness, because I feel like I can hear most things quite well. If I'm in a crowd of people however, it's very hard to hear just one person clearly.
Note: you have to click through to YouTube to see the video, since I turned off the embedding feature.
When I was helping my grandparents with their books, I was looking at all the piles and piles of old hardcover books, and got a sudden picture of where my book collection is headed. :D With the difference being that my books are mostly classic fiction, while my grandpa has old religion/theology books. And lexicons. I don't know how many Greek lexicons one person really needs, but he feels the need to have about, oh, at least twelve! Plus three sets of Bible commentaries (big long sets), and several 2-3 volume commentaries as well. We didn't get rid of those. I carried them all back and put them back on the bookshelves.
So, that's that.
Incidentally, my camera seems to make odd ringing noises, because I hear them in the background, but there was nothing else that could be making that noise. Very strange.
Hopefully y'all can understand me...I really do mumble, I think. Either most people have gotten used to the way I talk, or they don't care if they miss an occasional word, but I'm surprised I don't get more people asking me "What??" when I talk to them. I feel rather sorry for them. Or maybe I'm the one who can't hear very well so I think I'm hard to understand. Who knows. I know I have several friends whom I have a hard time hearing sometimes. Somehow I think that's usually from an inability to block out ambient noise, rather than from deafness, because I feel like I can hear most things quite well. If I'm in a crowd of people however, it's very hard to hear just one person clearly.
Note: you have to click through to YouTube to see the video, since I turned off the embedding feature.
When I was helping my grandparents with their books, I was looking at all the piles and piles of old hardcover books, and got a sudden picture of where my book collection is headed. :D With the difference being that my books are mostly classic fiction, while my grandpa has old religion/theology books. And lexicons. I don't know how many Greek lexicons one person really needs, but he feels the need to have about, oh, at least twelve! Plus three sets of Bible commentaries (big long sets), and several 2-3 volume commentaries as well. We didn't get rid of those. I carried them all back and put them back on the bookshelves.
So, that's that.
Incidentally, my camera seems to make odd ringing noises, because I hear them in the background, but there was nothing else that could be making that noise. Very strange.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Well then DON'T answer the phone!
I finally psyched myself up to calling the local community college because I had some questions (is that redundant, "local community"?) and because Mom suggested I might need an appointment for what I wanted to talk to them about, as opposed to walking into the admissions office and expecting the secretary to be able to answer my questions.
Have I mentioned that I hate making phone calls? Well, I do. It's something I need to get over or at least come to terms with. In the meantime I despise it.
So I'm not thrilled about calling someone I don't know. I figured out what I was going to ask them, hoped they'd understand me, and guess what...the line was busy. And it's still busy. I suppose perhaps the admissions office is not open on Mondays, so it just says that the line is busy? Who knows.
At this rate I will be irritated enough when I do finally get through that I will no longer be terrified. Nothing like indignation to overcome terror. And if I don't get through...I guess I'll email them or go ahead and walk in there on Wednesday and set up a proper appointment then if I need to.
Have I mentioned that I hate making phone calls? Well, I do. It's something I need to get over or at least come to terms with. In the meantime I despise it.
So I'm not thrilled about calling someone I don't know. I figured out what I was going to ask them, hoped they'd understand me, and guess what...the line was busy. And it's still busy. I suppose perhaps the admissions office is not open on Mondays, so it just says that the line is busy? Who knows.
At this rate I will be irritated enough when I do finally get through that I will no longer be terrified. Nothing like indignation to overcome terror. And if I don't get through...I guess I'll email them or go ahead and walk in there on Wednesday and set up a proper appointment then if I need to.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Maybe I'm crazy
I can't remember what I've told different people in person about what I'm doing and what I've posted on here, or on Twitter or Facebook. I guess I know too many people and have too many online outlets.
Someone at church asked me yesterday if I was considering buying a car sometime soon, because they'd heard that somewhere. Uhhh... I wracked my brain trying to remember what I've said, and oddly enough that was not one of the things I've mentioned anywhere outside my family, but I have been reconsidering buying a car sometime this year.
So...I need to stop buying stuff and put a LOT more in savings, whether I end up using it for a car, or school, or who knows what. Unfortunately interest rates are dropping pretty steadily, so I don't know how much I'm going to earn off the money anyway. Darn. Even CDs have worse rates than my online savings accounts, otherwise I'd consider putting some into a CD. And I shan't be complaining about working anytime soon either. :P
Bottom line, either I mentioned buying a car some time ago, or this person can read my mind. I'm hoping for the former. Just because.
Someone at church asked me yesterday if I was considering buying a car sometime soon, because they'd heard that somewhere. Uhhh... I wracked my brain trying to remember what I've said, and oddly enough that was not one of the things I've mentioned anywhere outside my family, but I have been reconsidering buying a car sometime this year.
So...I need to stop buying stuff and put a LOT more in savings, whether I end up using it for a car, or school, or who knows what. Unfortunately interest rates are dropping pretty steadily, so I don't know how much I'm going to earn off the money anyway. Darn. Even CDs have worse rates than my online savings accounts, otherwise I'd consider putting some into a CD. And I shan't be complaining about working anytime soon either. :P
Bottom line, either I mentioned buying a car some time ago, or this person can read my mind. I'm hoping for the former. Just because.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Questions of science, science and progress...
Well, I guess since my last post was about my knee pain, I should start by saying that it's getting better. It's so lovely to go through a day and not really feel your knee, meaning it's not hurting. I've been exercising carefully and wearing my shoes more so I have more support and I'm in the middle of trying to find a new pair of running shoes. (I will soon have 6 pairs at home to decide between...as I don't make decisions easily this should be fun...)
Besides recovering I've been attempting to make sense of school. Could this all be more complicated? When I'm not trying to figure out possible college stuff, I'm working on a business math book I bought, and reading way too many books at once.
One thing I'm reading right now is "How the Irish Saved Civilization" which is about how the Irish scribes saved all the old Latin writings and such...or that's what it's going to be...I haven't quite gotten that far yet. It's very interesting and I'm learning about Augustine and more about the fall of Rome and such because it gives some background to the main part of the story. I like history books where I can say "Oh, yes, I knew that, and that fits in with that fact that I didn't know".
So pretty much what I've been doing lately is working, working out, reading, and making my brain work WAY too hard. Well, it seems to think it's working too hard...may be a matter of opinion. I read things, and research things, and sigh, and about then my brain suggests that perhaps it would be a good time to just lie down and take a nice nap and not think about this stuff anymore. Uh-oh. As nice as that would be, I kind of doubt that it's a good solution. I would be well-rested though.
I did take advantage of the wonderfully warm weather on Tuesday though, and went outside and lay in the sun reading until I felt sleepy, and then I rolled over and dozed off for a while, woke up and went back to reading. Very leisurely, very relaxing, and I was only ever so slightly sore to the touch from being in the sun. Absorbed a little vitamin D, but not enough to make me look like a strawberry...or tomato, or...red, in other words.
Well, I'm going to a baby shower tomorrow, so that should be fun, and a chance to relax. :)
In the meantime, I will be thinking. Oh, I've been knitting too...I'm working on a pair of socks. They seem to be working so far. It took me a while to get the sock going, but I've got the toe done now. Baby steps.
Ah, right...Grandma wants me to help her clean out their library, so I'll be doing that too. That will actually be kind of fun and peaceful...books and organizing. Provided I can make sense of my work schedule and plan when to do that. :P
Mary Chapin Carpenter makes me wish I actually knew how to play my guitar...not adding that to my list of things to do right now though:
Incidentally...Nobody said it was easy!
Besides recovering I've been attempting to make sense of school. Could this all be more complicated? When I'm not trying to figure out possible college stuff, I'm working on a business math book I bought, and reading way too many books at once.
One thing I'm reading right now is "How the Irish Saved Civilization" which is about how the Irish scribes saved all the old Latin writings and such...or that's what it's going to be...I haven't quite gotten that far yet. It's very interesting and I'm learning about Augustine and more about the fall of Rome and such because it gives some background to the main part of the story. I like history books where I can say "Oh, yes, I knew that, and that fits in with that fact that I didn't know".
So pretty much what I've been doing lately is working, working out, reading, and making my brain work WAY too hard. Well, it seems to think it's working too hard...may be a matter of opinion. I read things, and research things, and sigh, and about then my brain suggests that perhaps it would be a good time to just lie down and take a nice nap and not think about this stuff anymore. Uh-oh. As nice as that would be, I kind of doubt that it's a good solution. I would be well-rested though.
I did take advantage of the wonderfully warm weather on Tuesday though, and went outside and lay in the sun reading until I felt sleepy, and then I rolled over and dozed off for a while, woke up and went back to reading. Very leisurely, very relaxing, and I was only ever so slightly sore to the touch from being in the sun. Absorbed a little vitamin D, but not enough to make me look like a strawberry...or tomato, or...red, in other words.
Well, I'm going to a baby shower tomorrow, so that should be fun, and a chance to relax. :)
In the meantime, I will be thinking. Oh, I've been knitting too...I'm working on a pair of socks. They seem to be working so far. It took me a while to get the sock going, but I've got the toe done now. Baby steps.
Ah, right...Grandma wants me to help her clean out their library, so I'll be doing that too. That will actually be kind of fun and peaceful...books and organizing. Provided I can make sense of my work schedule and plan when to do that. :P
Mary Chapin Carpenter makes me wish I actually knew how to play my guitar...not adding that to my list of things to do right now though:
Incidentally...Nobody said it was easy!
Monday, March 01, 2010
And back to earth with a painful thud
So much for feeling invincibly energetic. I may still be energetic, except I'm limping around with an aching knee, so it's hard to tell. Fortunately after about an hour long nap, the world looks much brighter and I can think a bit more clearly, plus my knee is a little better from the rest as well.
A little while ago all I felt like doing was crying because it seemed hopeless, and my knee hurt, and I wasn't able to exercise much this morning because of it, and I'll have to deal with the stairs at work...! Above all, I'm extremely active and utterly hate being injured and feeling like an old person. Hmph. (All of this further compounded by my being what my cousin refers to as "hormotional"...heh, give me a couple days and I'll be rational about it again and won't be so near to tears.) Anyway...
My knee hurts. It's hurt off and on for the past year and half probably. I don't remember ever injuring it badly in any way, just once in a while I do something to strain it and it starts hurting. Sadly I can't remember now what all has triggered it. Dancing...though I shudder at that idea, hurts it sometimes. I really don't want to give up dancing just because it makes my knee hurt though! That's a very sad thought. I also remember that when I first started my job, standing up and rocking the baby to sleep made my knee hurt. Going up or down lots of stone "steps" while hiking also causes problems, along with some exercises. I'm thinking that my exercising lately has caused it to hurt again, two exercises in particular.
So I'm not sure what to do. I don't know if I should avoid the two exercises and just be patient and wait for it to go away. But since it keeps coming up again I wonder if I should go to the doctor, although I don't usually do that. :P I remember now that I do have insurance though, and it would probably cover going to the doctor for this, and the last time I went I actually saw a sports medicine specialist anyway, so if I could get an appointment with her it might be helpful.
On the other hand, I know a lot of medical people, so maybe I could just get some advice from them? *grins hopefully* My right knee hurts, it almost feels as if it's bending too much in the wrong direction for lack of a better way to describe it, and I mentioned what triggers it. So...what's wrong with it and what should I do? :D This feels like a contest or something...the first person to answer correctly wins...uh...wins...homemade brownies or something. Oh and you have 60 seconds to diagnose it! No, in all seriousness, if anyone has any advice, please let me know.
In other news, my new iPod came in the mail today. Plus it came with apple stickers...I've never bought any Apple product new (or with new packaging) so I've never gotten any of the stickers. But it's shiny purple, has a radio and video camera...oh, and it plays mp3s too, novel concept, right? ;)
A little while ago all I felt like doing was crying because it seemed hopeless, and my knee hurt, and I wasn't able to exercise much this morning because of it, and I'll have to deal with the stairs at work...! Above all, I'm extremely active and utterly hate being injured and feeling like an old person. Hmph. (All of this further compounded by my being what my cousin refers to as "hormotional"...heh, give me a couple days and I'll be rational about it again and won't be so near to tears.) Anyway...
My knee hurts. It's hurt off and on for the past year and half probably. I don't remember ever injuring it badly in any way, just once in a while I do something to strain it and it starts hurting. Sadly I can't remember now what all has triggered it. Dancing...though I shudder at that idea, hurts it sometimes. I really don't want to give up dancing just because it makes my knee hurt though! That's a very sad thought. I also remember that when I first started my job, standing up and rocking the baby to sleep made my knee hurt. Going up or down lots of stone "steps" while hiking also causes problems, along with some exercises. I'm thinking that my exercising lately has caused it to hurt again, two exercises in particular.
So I'm not sure what to do. I don't know if I should avoid the two exercises and just be patient and wait for it to go away. But since it keeps coming up again I wonder if I should go to the doctor, although I don't usually do that. :P I remember now that I do have insurance though, and it would probably cover going to the doctor for this, and the last time I went I actually saw a sports medicine specialist anyway, so if I could get an appointment with her it might be helpful.
On the other hand, I know a lot of medical people, so maybe I could just get some advice from them? *grins hopefully* My right knee hurts, it almost feels as if it's bending too much in the wrong direction for lack of a better way to describe it, and I mentioned what triggers it. So...what's wrong with it and what should I do? :D This feels like a contest or something...the first person to answer correctly wins...uh...wins...homemade brownies or something. Oh and you have 60 seconds to diagnose it! No, in all seriousness, if anyone has any advice, please let me know.
In other news, my new iPod came in the mail today. Plus it came with apple stickers...I've never bought any Apple product new (or with new packaging) so I've never gotten any of the stickers. But it's shiny purple, has a radio and video camera...oh, and it plays mp3s too, novel concept, right? ;)
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