Transience

older? yes. wiser? well....

Thanks to all of you who helped to make my birthday so fabulous! There are few things that make me as happy as being with the people I love.

I've not yet done my traditional re-reading of the past year's journal entries and pondering of goals for my new year. (I never actually do this for New Year's, because my birthday seems to me to better mark the beginning of a new cycle on the wheel of time.) I feel it will be a year of changes. Not sure what that means, though. I just have a gut feeling that I shouldn't even try to guess at what life will bring this year. I'm intrigued.

a round of applause

... for Amy Anderson & her fabulous photo skills! I'm really happy with the pictures she took of me. You should hire her!

amazingly cool!

colored bubbles (and the story of their invention)

beautiful, odd, and - in the end - creepy video of a cornstarch & water mixture

contentment

I am sitting on the sofa at Dunn Bros, luxuriating in the warmth of the fire next to me and the sunlight pouring in through the window as I sip my vanilla bean tea and catch up on blogging.

This morning I cuddled with Aidan, stirred the apple butter which is simmering in the crock pot, and threw the apple cores & peels in the backyard for the gustatory delight of the woodland creatures. The peelings flew out of the mixing bowl and onto the snow in a crimson arc of sweetness.

Right now I am content. I am warm and alive and loved.

#108 - Female Chauvinist Pigs

Female Chauvinist Pigs : Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy

I thought the premise was interesting, but the execution left me a bit disappointed; it would have been better suited to a magazine article rather than a full-length book.

In the end, I left feeling grateful that evangelical culture had helped to shelter me from some of her talking points (such as the "Girls Gone Wild" phenomena). At a point in my life where I've been questioning some of the "rules" and restrictions I internalized during & shortly after college, it's nice to be reminded that they weren't all bad.

I am glad that I live within a subculture where I am not expected to flash for beads or make out with other women in order to get the attention of guys.

#107 - Understanding the Enneagram

Understanding the Enneagram by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson

Much more interesting and in-depth than the previous book I reviewed. At times the amount of information seems almost overwhelming. But it's fascinating, so that's ok.

One of my recent "projects" has been to try to guess at the types of friends & family (and to see if the people whose types I do know seem to match up with my understanding of the types). If you'd like to tell me what you are, take the free test & leave a comment below.

#106 - Essential Enneagram

The Essential Enneagram: The Definitive Personality Test and Self-Discovery Guide by David Daniels and Virginia Price

I'll admit I skimmed this one, but I've read it before. It's good for a quick overview of the types, which is all I wanted.

#105 - New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer

New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer by Bill Maher

WTF? How the hell does someone get paid to write stuff like this? And who the hell is stupid enough to pay even $16.47 (Amazon's low low price) for it?

A page has one or two one-liners on it and a photo. Rinse & repeat. What a waste of paper.

#104 - A Prayer for Owen Meany

A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving

I raced through the first 570 pages, unable to put it down. And then I got tired. The last 70 pages were torture, as I forced myself to put down the other library books which seductively whispered "Rachel, come and read us". But alas, I had maxed out the number of renewals allowed and had to finish it before they started fining me. Because I just can't leave a book without knowing how it ends. I know, it's a cross I have to bear.

Anyway, it was an ok book. I'll never read it again, but I'm glad I did at least once.

change

Well, the sadness has lifted. Who knows if it was the moon, pressure changes from the incoming storm, or just a quirk? Regardless of the reason, it's nice to feel somewhat more normal again.

Here's a beautiful space picture.

small delights

I was exploring a site at the U and ran across some middle schoolers' science experiment abstracts. Here are my favorite quotes:

Some new things that were learned from this experiment were that crickets are not smart and would drown themselves if a dish of water were put into their cage, and also that they had a short life expectancy and they died in a few days time.

Two things that we uncovered in the background research were that moths react positively to light and cockroaches react negatively to light. Also, moths don’t like different colors of light.

Two things that we learned were: one) You can not expect to get a certain result when doing and experiment, and, Two) The sample size in actually a really important factor because the more you have the more accurate your results are.

The following was learned. Cockroaches hissed when they were picked up. Cockroaches did not hiss over food. Cockroaches did not hiss over territory.

There were not very many wooly bears found, therefore, the results could be inaccurate because not much of the wooly bear population was represented. It was learned that this was a very strange year, so wooly bears were very hard to find.

Ah, science!
(Did I ever mention that I won several science fairs when I was a kid? Yep. "The effects of different colored lights on the growth of marigolds" and one that tested the electrical conductivity of different fluids (lemon juice, vinegar, etc.))

an explanation?

Just realized a little while ago that today is a full moon. That could help to explain all the crazy stuff that's been going on here. I know at least one friend who has had a really wild day. How about you, gentle reader?

crushed

After a week or more of feeling pretty darn good (other than being overly-tired), I find myself this morning suddenly crushed by a sadness that seems to have come from nowhere. My chest literally aches right now. Perhaps it is the knowledge of impending snow?

I must keep reminding myself that, in just a little more than a month, light will triumph and the days will once again grow long.

Come, solstice.
Come, hope.
Come, light.

Hell, less than 3 hours ago I was dancing in my office. Really. Where did that go? Maybe if I put Manu Chao on again the joy will return to my hips and work its way upward? Well, it's worth a try.

thought for the day

Normal is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for - in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car, and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.
- Ellen Goodman

I do not want to live like this.

heh heh. 100% neopagan.

Yesterday a friend sent me a link to Beliefnet's Belief-o-matic quiz.

After laughing at their disclaimer ("Warning: Belief-O-Matic™ assumes no legal liability for the ultimate fate of your soul.") I decided to take it again, since the last time had been a year or so ago. The results were... surprising... to say the least. No wonder I feel like a heretic some days. :) (Of course, the format of the quiz forces you to choose one of several options, even if you feel that several (or none) would be true. So don't put too much weight on your score - or mine.)

my scores
1. Neo-Pagan (100%)
2. Reform Judaism (99%)
3. New Age (95%)
4. Liberal Quakers (95%)
5. Unitarian Universalism (94%)
6. Bahá'í Faith (85%)
7. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (82%)
8. Mahayana Buddhism (80%)
9. Sikhism (74%)
10. Orthodox Judaism (71%)
11. Jainism (69%)
12. New Thought (66%)
13. Theravada Buddhism (65%)
14. Islam (64%)
15. Taoism (61%)
16. Orthodox Quaker (59%)
17. Scientology (59%)
18. Hinduism (55%)
19. Secular Humanism (53%)
20. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (45%)
21. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (35%)
22. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (34%)
23. Nontheist (33%)
24. Eastern Orthodox (32%)
25. Roman Catholic (32%)
26. Seventh Day Adventist (32%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (13%)

un-deadifying the ipod

Success! Apple's instructions on how to reset a frozen ipod finally worked (after trying it about a dozen times). My mini & I are reunited at last!

optical illusion

freaky

that new-baby smell

Last night as I was putting on my pajamas, I was overwhelmed by the new-baby smell left by hours of holding little Elijah this weekend. It made my heart ache. There's something so deeply primal about the scent of a baby; it brings up all these longings from deep inside me.

It was wonderful to see my friend Sarah again and to get to spend so much time getting to know her kids. It's amazing how fiercely I can love these little creatures, even though they aren't related to me. The potential ferocity of my love for my own kids is a bit overwhelming. Spending 4 days with 4 kids under the age of 5 left me with such admiration for my friends who are parents.

I also got to spend quite a bit of time hanging out with LDB, which was very nice. Good food, good company, bad art (fun to mock), and a great concert that we snuck into at intermission. (Shh!) And the drums are even more beautiful in person.

The only downside to my weekend is that my ipod seems to have died while I was taking a nap at a rest stop mid-way through my journey home yesterday. I hope I can get it going again.

oddly compelling and lovely

Cover Pop

I'm fascinated by the technology behind this. Be sure to view the different images linked on the right. (The home page is random, so I don't know which you'll get.) I'm more impressed with the books/magazines section than the others.

a proud auntie moment

Aww! Such a cute little scarecrow!