day no. 10

dork moment:

much to my chagrin, I am discovering that my devotion to this whole 147 days of blogging is, lacking...to say the least. I can't say I'm really that dissapointed though. I suppose I'm happy for a life that keeps me from blogging about it every single day. That being said, I really am having fun with this...

Lesson for day no. 10, honestly...

It's sees that lots of virtues people like to value (especially Christians) have become...girly. Take honesty for example. I think it's safe to say that speaking the truth and not concealing reality for our own personal benefit is generally a trait people appreciate. I mean, who likes being lied to? But along with grace and peace and patience, I can't help but feel that honesty/being honest has lots its true meaning somewhere along the road of cultural translation and I wonder if maybe, we aren't missing out on a whole lot. I'll try to explain what exactly I mean. From the day we can coherently respond to direct questions, people are asking us if we're telling the truth. I think of little kids when I think of honesty. They get themselves into so much trouble and pretty much live on the edge of continual and possible punishment. Of COURSE they lie. It seems pretty obvious to me that kids (alongside criminals) probably get asked more than anyone else, "are you telling the truth?" But, as I've recently had some thought/experience with being honest, I have noted that there is nothing juvenile about "telling it like it is" and yet it is so closely parallened with a sense of childllikeness. Honesty is like a tutu without the tulle. Cream pie with no cream. Supermodels with no Botox. Amputation with no anathesia. It rips our veils and ridiculous facades that we slave over maintaining; leaving us to the mercy of whatever consequences our honesty will bring. Honesty sucks, man. You either leave someone else feeling like crap or you walk away with your insides spilling out and dragging along beside you. But for some reason, it is a good idea and one that Jesus practiced regularly, even if it did mean losing his friends and eventually, his life. I guess what I'm trying to get it is, there's nothing nice or safe about honesty. It's hard and awkward and leaves you feeling exposed, raw, and usually, undignified. Welcome to, "doing the right thing."

Beautiful thing for day no. 10, denim.

One of my friends, a wonderful Abi. G, is moving to Wales. She leaves in less than a month to start a completely new part of her life (training for full time missions. YEAH!) In her wake, she has left me a wonderful pair of jeans than are no less than perfection in pants form. Old Navy, size 4. Cut: curvy. Fit: Wonderful. And they don't drag on the ground! Boys, you may scoff. Ladies: You know what I'm talkin' about...

Discusting thing for day no. 10, not an animal.

Over breakfast this morning we were reminscing about a game the kids played at camp a couple weeks ago. Each kid got a bowl with a decent amount of M & M's covered in some ketchup. The kids had to race to see who could eat the most. It makes me almost gag just thinking about how discusting they looked covered in multicolored smashed M & M's and ketchup. Barf, anyone? Yeah, gross. Definitely not breakfast conversation.

Quote for day no. 10, Comtesse Diane (Marie De Beausacq)

"Of all feats of skill, the most difficult is that of being dishonest."

List for day no. 10

-Get to Westfield, MA tomorrow without getting lost

-Get home from Westfield, MA tomorrow without getting lost

-Find some dinner

-Make a decision about school

-write to Jemima (an elemantary age little girl who was the only one to respond to my last support/update letter)

New category! "Good things that are:_______"

day no. 10: blue

1. Jello

2. The sky in October

3. Saphires

4. the glasses in my cupboard

5. my atm card

day no. 3

Lesson from day no. 3, sometimes there is nothing you can do.
So, for the few months or so (pretty much this entire year), I have been experiencing, shall we say, some new sleep patterns. Meaning: I can fall asleep at any given moment. This new little talent is handy for long car trips, layovers in Atlanta, and plane rides but obnoxiously debilitating when you're trying to stay awake for a movie or (as in today's case), do your JOB. I fell asleep on the phone today. No good. It was right in between the part where the automated lady says "I will transfer your call to that extention" to the part where the real lady picks up. Somewhere between automation and reality, I dozed off; waking up to "hello?...hello?...hello?" And it kept happening. One minute I'm dialing the number, the next minute my eyes are closed as the phone is ringing, and 2 seconds later I'm dreaming about elephants in Canada. Despite taking my iron supplements and getting obscene amounts of sleep it was only after some caffeine that I regained complete consciousness. Oh, one more thing: when one of the receptionists picked up the phone this morning, I was singing. Oops.

Beautiful thing for day no. 3,ROYGBPV
Yesterday we took one of our spontaneous trips to the beach. No reason to go really, but no reason not to. It was one of those days where half the sky is blue and bright and the other is all angsty looking and gray and terrible. Stretching from one side of the sky to the other though was this impossibly bright rainbow; so incredibly defined it looked like something from a Lucky Charms box. It arched all the way across the road and got more beautiful and bright the lower it went. Brittney and I were in the car when we saw it, so there was plenty of shrieking and craning of necks as we tried to see it. Thank God I did not swerve into uncoming traffic trying to see some colors in the sky. That would have been significantly lame. It felt like we were right underneath it. We didn't see any gold though. Dang. It was beautiful anyway, though.

Discusting thing for day no. 3, "Would you rather?"
One of the many quirkish things about my life here in Bristol is that I play alot of "Would you Rather?" Kris's standby question (which he must ask EVERY STINKIN' TIME WE PLAY) is:
"Would you rather have to hold in your mouth a teaspoon of recently discharged human feces or eat a small, live mouse?" If you're gagging, well, that's normal.

Quote for day no. 3, Edgar Watson Howe
"The feeling of sleepiness when you are not in bed, and can't get there, is the meanest feeling in the world."

List for day no. 3
-Pick up stuff for tag sale

-buy soundtrack to Dirty Dancing, Havana Nights

-Find my ring

-Figure out how to make lasagna with chicken

-Diagnose my sleep disorder

-fundraise for China

-Call Tunxis community collegeeventhoughIhatedoingstufflikethat

Day no. 1

Welcome to the last 147 days of the year. It's August 06, and while I don't normally count time by days, I think I just might start...

So here is my 147 day blog. If I can, I'll try to write something everyday (though that is probably an overzealous goal) using basically the same format for every entry. Since there's always something to be learned/ remembered from all seasons of life, I figure "writing stuff down" can't hurt. I don't promise that all of this will be profound and I certainly wouldn't say that everything will be of general interest, but I am pretty sure that I'm going to have fun writing this and you're welcome to come along for the ride...

Lesson no. 1, there's no place like home.

After a week of chaotic, sunny, dirty-lake, bad food, archery-swimming-paintball-missions CAMP, it is nice to settle back into our tiny, almost organized, overflowing with hair product and books apartment. 2 Interns just left, one new staff person has just arrived. Her name is Kati and she brings good music/DVD's, an excellent personality, and cool little decorations from Africa. Our home is changing (perpetually) but it is nice to have one. I am planning on bringing a little color to ours with the addition of some Geraniums. Raise you hand if you know what a Geranium is.

Beautiful thing no. 1, Milk.

Since it's only 11:49 am, my list of beautiful things is limited and not very creative at this point, so I am going to have to go with milk. It's been about 3 weeks or so since we had any milk and this morning when I opened the fridge---da da ta ta: MILK!

Discusting thing no. 1, Something dead.

I was walking across the loading dock of the big, used- to- be- factory -building, where I work and instead of ducking and cowering in fear (as I often do) of the gross pigeons who like to nest in the rafters, I was greeted by the discusting site of a completely dead pigeon. It was a pathetic thing to behold, really. It was lying on it's stomach, slouched near the corner of the wall; all blue and gray and still looking. Yuck. I hope someone with a more sympathetic and enviromentally conscious heart moves it soon.

Quote no. 1, Goethe.

"Every day look at a beautiful picture, read a beautiful poem, listen to some beautiful music, and if possible, say some reasonable thing."

List no. 1, "To do"

-remember to take iron pills.

-eat some lunch.

-read more of "Searching for God knows What" (VERY good book.)

-take a nap.

-enjoy day off.

-get some feedback/inspiration about this whole 147 days thing.