Wednesday, February 27, 2008

talk about left field...

We had our monthly staff lunch for church today, an event I particularly enjoy because it is the one time a month I get to see some of the other staff. Last month, we filled out a survey about worship services (in which I was brutally honest, as usual) and had some talk time with our new pastor.

So this time, we have to take a "test" about how evangelical we are (it was a spoof). I didn't like the answers because they didn't fit. I don't know what it is about multiple choice but they never have the right answer. Since these answers were so far off, I wrote in my own. When it came to scoring time, I judged that every "d" answer (my write-ins) had to follow the scale- so I'm either super Evangelical or negative evangelical- in one case, I'm pompous in the other, I'm way heathen (more than unsaved, if that is even possible!). For some reason, this didn't surprize my fellow staff members (insert ninja smilie here!).

I guess it comes down to the fact that I'm a radical. I don't fit in a box, I don't fit people's ideas of what a Christian is. But I'm okay with that. I am just who God made me to be, and how much better can you get than that? (Not to say I can't be better, but I'm on the right track.)

And speaking of left field, baseball season starts soon. That only means (for me) that it is time of sitting on bleachers again to watch Jake. Can't wait!

Friday, February 15, 2008

reading my way through '08...

I did it in 2007 so I'm doing it again in 2008, only the goal is higher. I'm reading 100 books this year. And to complicate matters, children's books like the Narnia series don't count. Who made this silly rule? I did...

I invited the teens on CleanPlace to join me in this challenge, and to make sure they were reading quality material, the rule is no children's lit. The teens are trying their best to skirt this rule. We offered them Narnia, but only if they read all seven and count it as one. Now they want everything. But no, we are putting our feet down (we being Dianna, Sarah and I), no children's lit.

This means I have to not only read 25 more books than last year but I also have to read "harder" books as well. Not that I read simple books last year, but I did read a few short ones and a few children's (like Narnia, Island of the Blue Dolphins and Bridge to Terebithia).

Why do I do this to myself??

Sunday, February 10, 2008

another tweak...

So, my friend Dianna found a typo in my backdrop- and she was so sweet to not only fix it but to also do some tweaking. I'm so happy with the new look, I think it fits perfectly!

Not much has gone on in my world as of late. The mall is slow, but we did move the entire store in three days. Yes, we had to move to a temp location because we are getting a remodel. Moving that much product in three days took some planning, but our manager did well. And we got everything set up and looking spiffy in no time.

I recently wrote a sestina. Never heard of a sestina? Well, it is this old poetry form in which you must end each of six lines in six stanas with the same six words in different orders. Confused? No problem. Just read this and you will get the point...

Thoughts on Life

Within the turquoise swells of the ocean
lies the entrance- grasp the doorknob!
Enter- set your tea cup on a saucer
and listen to the resounding echoes,
slippery as a banana
being described by Hemingway.

Grumpy old Hemingway—
caught in the undulation of the ocean,
stuck at sea without a banana
to eat or even the security of a doorknob
to grasp—left only with the echoes
of that cup hitting the saucer.

Notice the violet rim around the edge of the saucer.
It escapes the descriptive powers of Hemingway
as it clinks empty tones that resist echoes
and sink into the restful depths of the ocean.
Cold fingers release the doorknob
and Death sits close by, eating a banana.

The moon also rises in the pale sky like a shimmering banana.
Light spills out and tumbles into the Earth’s waiting saucer.
Humanity ignores the warning signs and avoids the doorknob.
They turn to poets for answers, but only Hemingway
can ferry them across the ocean
and quiet the ever-sounding echoes.

Who’s tumbling cup set off the echoes
that ring so close? The answer slips on the peel of the banana
and follows streams back to the ocean.
All the waters pool into the saucer
that holds the tea cup set down by Hemingway
as he reaches instead for the doorknob.

Before we can enter the future we must turn the doorknob
and listen closely to the echoes
of old souls who read Hemingway
as they throw down the empty yellow shell of the banana
and return the now-washed, purple-edged saucer
to the shelf on the bottom of the ocean.

Let go of the doorknob and savor first the banana—
Make a sound that echoes in the rings of your saucer—
Recite Hemingway while crossing life’s ocean.

(c) SDD 1/31/08