Not enough steam in this head for a full pressing on one issue so we’re going to just go random.
1. Ditty bag. I haven’t heard that phrase in years, but I’m reading William Goldman’s Adventures In The Screen Trade and he used it there. So now it’s stuck in my head. Apparently a lot of other people use it. I guess I’m not up on my bag terminology.
3. 2 is coming up later. I chopped it and threw it at the end. Feel free to skip two altogether.
4. Knee deep in the Vorkosigan saga right now, and I’m absolutely adoring it. Lois McMaster Bujold is somebody who should have a lot more traction in the world. She’s an excellent writer. I owe Christy Nicholson a major debt for recommending these. Consider this my recommending them to you.
5. I’m now a convert to the whole “Room of one’s own” thing that was such a trend about 10 years ago. I rememeber when that author decided to run with the Virginia Woolf quote (it is Virginia Woolf, right? I don’t feel like googling it right now. Maybe I’ll check on that later) and put out a book about creating a sanctuary within one’s home for one’s self. At the time the book came out I had zero money and the whole idea seemed like another thing designed to rub my lack of funds in my face. But now that I sunk my birthday money into the futon, the breakfast nook has become the SPoT. This is short for “Sun Puddle Throne”. And it is more healing than I ever thought possible to just sit there and watch the moon sail across the night. I’m not so much regretting my insomnia anymore.
6. Speaking of sleep. I have the surgery next week. I’m not worried about the pain–I’m in pain all the time. But the anesthesia…there’s a worry. I’m always afraid I won’t wake up. So that’s the care I’m casting on the Lord right now. I also don’t really want to complain about insomnia because then I feel like the Universe would be all “you wanted sleep! Here’s sleep!”
7. I really very much dislike people who talk to me in high-flown churchy language. I just want to say “quit acting a part and be real. Communicate as one person to another. Not as some pompous git speaking a part.” Ended up blocking someone on FB this week because of it. That makes 4 blocks now. I hate blocking, but sometimes it just has to happen.
Now, I’m done with the random stuff and I’m going to let you choose whether or not you want to read #2. Understand that it involves religion and controversy so….feel free to go there after the jump.
2. I didn’t really want to write about this but I’m going to just give on paragraph to excise it. I’m so very tired of all of the posts about sold-out chicken sandwiches and lines around the block. So many of them have this smug undertone that seems to be just…i don’t know. I hate the Culture Wars. This is why I really am out of sorts with the now-deceased Chuck Colson. He trumped up Culture Wars in the church like they’re a great idea. Nobody right now is looking at this chicken sandwich thing and thinking “wow! Grace! Kindness! Forgiveness! I want some!” Nobody.
Just a little thang about #5. Do you know how many I have counseled with the wisdom of creating their own sanctuary within their house. A place that is just theirs and sets the rule of boundaries within the family. Sanctuary… maybe one day I will write my own post about how this is more than just a place in the church where people sit to worship, but a place of hope and healing – a place to escape the mob that is chasing you and claim SANCTUARY! to earn a bit of peace.
(hopefully my tangent didn’t invoke #7 for you). I can say something very earthy to make up for it if needed…. earthworms… ?? I’m having a random day?
Yes to Virginia Woolf–I found her ideas rather odd because, although I agree that I need a room of my own, her solution was to have a wealthy relative die so that she could accomplish her goals. If we could all be so lucky……I agree about the smug undertone of chicken sandwich buying and wonder how many people are standing up for traditional marriage, and how many are making a statement for free speech, etc. Anyway, prayers for your surgery–I try not to use these words in an empty way.
I legitimately don’t understand the “making a statement for free speech” thing. Seems like the whole ordeal is a win-win for free speech all around. CFA gets free speech, gays and lesbians and the people who love them get free speech, and the people who hate them get greasy chicken.
But it’s not really about being “free” it’s about being “right.”
I agree on all counts.
Yes to Virginia Woolf — though having kids either two-footed or four-footed (or both) complicates this as one’s kids ineluctably gravitate to where one is and bring all of their toys with them.
It is easier to buy something than to do something and easier to do something than to be someone. However, no one said that Christianity would be easy.
I say “ditty bag.”
Ms. Woolf specified, IIRC, that a woman should have five hundred pounds a year and a room of her own to be able to write. Financial independence and privacy, in other words. Both true and elitist as shit, rock and a hard place. People manage without them, but they undoubtedly help.
I’m so worn out by the Chick-fil-a thing. Just can’t take it anymore. I vowed not to talk politics on Facebook or my blog, but I got so annoyed I found myself spewing. I bet none of this would have flared up if it weren’t for the upcoming election. Oy. I’m already worn out by the election.
I’ll be glad when the Chick-Fil-A thing passes if for no other reason as I’d like to be able to go on Facebook and not leave with this song stuck in my head: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO-msplukrw
On #6: When I had my hysterectomy in April, I had the same fear – of not waking up from the anesthesia. I did not have that fear the other times I’ve had surgery, so it scared me a bit. But I had to give it to the Lord and let Him deal with it.
On #5: We moved last year into our new rental house (well, it’s not a “new” house as it was built in 1951, but it’s new to us). It is a Cape Cod, and I claimed the entire upstairs room – which is wonderfully big and open – as my writing space. My daughter did lay claim to the left half of it, though, and set up her Littlest Pet Shop figures, though she rarely plays with them. But as she is entering the 7th grade, I fear they will not be up much longer (though I wouldn’t care if they were…I don’t want her to grow up too fast). All this to say…yes, a room of one’s own is very important. Every person who has been up to my office loves it – they say it is very peaceful and relaxing. That’s exactly the way I intended it to be.
Best wishes on your surgery. The Lord will be with you.
Coble, this is not a comment inspired by this post, but I thought these photos might be relevant to your interests and provide a pleasant distraction.
http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/136028