This might be a bit of a long one... it's been a while (and no, that's not a euphemism ;o)

Have you ever noticed how when you are about to go on vacation those carefully protected and established time boundaries about work -- the ones you set for yourself so you can keep balance in your life -- go right out the window as you try to get everything done that remains on your to do list?

Although I did it to myself, I still haven't had a break since last Tuesday. By not having a break, I refer to the fact that between homework, preparing curriculum, going to class, grading papers, and spending thirteen hours at Church on Sunday, my average night's sleep from Wednesday through Monday was about 4 hours per night. This week was no better as I had three less days this week to get the curriculum done for while I'm gone. I managed to finish everything by eight o'clock this morning, and then I took a two hour nap and went to class late.

Since there are a lot of clergy for whom this is a typical week, I am reminded of how lucky I am to not have the expectation of this kind of schedule at St. ECWIW's -- not to mention how important it is to set up healthy boundaries early in my ministry as Clergy! I put this down also as a reminder to myself that taking a full course load and TA'ing a class while trying to work full time isn't a good idea. Yes, I'm sure we could have all told me that before I did it, but I'm pretty sure I still wouldn't have listened ;o)

Fuego left for her Mom's on Sunday night, so I've been on my own this week... this might be a clue that left to my own devices, I'd probably just work (yay Fuego!).

Oh ya... forgot to mention that I renewed my certification in Infant, Child, and Adult CPR, First Aid, and AED on Saturday from 9-6, which is why I didn't get finished with curriculum until 3:30am (I get up at 6:30 for church).

Okay... so here's part of where it becomes purely my fault that I didn't get any sleep...

Bro-head came to visit Sunday night, so after dropping Fuego off in LocalAirport at 10:55 pm, I went home and did some homework, then went to the store and bought some good beer (mmm... beer). Bro-head got to D-town at about 12am and we proceeded to drink beer and good rum (Pyrat... pronounced Pirate -- y'arr), chatted, watched a movie ("The One," with Jet Li), and didn't get to bed until 4am. Since I had only gotten three hours the previous night, and had been up since 6:30, I was pretty exhausted when we finally went to bed... but what a fun time!

The Dyson "Animal" worked its magic on the carpets and Bro-head was fairly allergy free (he only had to take antihistamines twice while he was there. I got up at 10 on Monday and made us blueberry pancakes (I had worked too many hours over the weekend, so I went in late to work). I went in at about noon for a lunch meeting, answered email, had staff meeting, wrote down a to do list so I could let go of my anxiety about forgetting stuff, and headed out to watch a late matinee showing of Fearless at 4pm (also with Jet Li... had to get in my "guy" movies while Fuego was gone) -- this was a really awesome movie! The tone was similar to that of Crouching Tiger (with excellent plot mixed in with great martial arts scenes), except that Fearless is based on a true story... they really did an amazing job of it, I highly recommend it!!

We had a great time talking again that evening and then watched "Brokeback Mountain" later that night. We paused the film a lot to discussion some of the challenging scenes, and ended up getting to bed at about 3am. I got up at 9, had some Captain Crunch, and headed in for a long day's work of getting my to do list done! Bro-head locked up when he left and took out Ginger for me since I didn't have time before I left. We really had a great visit!!

Whew... okay, we're up to Tuesday afternoon...

I brought my lunch so I could work straight through the day... did more email, set up volunteers for Church school and youth group while I was gone, finished some details for the upcoming DL Run, got most of my To Do list finished, and bailed at 5:30 to go home and get as much homework done as possible before Guinevere came to visit that night.

You might think that as an introvert, I would have just enjoyed some iTime with Fuego gone, but I rather consider time with Fuego as at least as good as iTime, if not better, so really I just missed her and rather welcomed the distraction of guests.

I managed to get two classes worth of homework done, then had dinner with Guinevere and hit they hay at about 1:30. Guinevere bailed at 6 so she could get to work -- she knocked on my door to say good bye, but otherwise let me sleep (yay... thanks!). I got up at 9, took Ginger out and ran to work for a 9:30 meeting with a new youth volunteer who is awesome (yay!!).

I left at 11:30 for a lunch meeting and to get the curriculum done for Sunday, having completed my to do list and trying to ensure nothing would fall through the cracks while I'm gone (how quickly we forget that things still got done before we came to our current position ;o).

When I got home from my meeting at about 4pm I brewed a pot of "decaf" (which wasn't) and got straight to work on the curriculum, which generally takes at least eight hours of work even with Fuego's expertise in song selection and her help in gathering images... which would have put me at midnight...

So when I hit about 4am, I resigned myself to only getting a few hours of sleep before I had to leave for class this morning. When I finished the resource pieces and started setting the timing of the meditation at 5, I resigned myself to not trying to do my other homework before I went to bed. When I finished the questions, burned the CDs and DVD, and went to print the resources out at 6, I resigned myself to only getting an hour and a half of sleep. When I finished grading papers to return to students today (in the class I'm TAing) it was 8am... I resigned myself to just burning the curriculum onto a CD and dropping it off at St. ECWIW's with instructions for how to do it. Ginger hadn't gone out yet, so I woke her up and took her outside (she didn't seem particularly bothered), I went to bed at 8:30 intending on an hour and a half of sleep, and resigned myself to being late for class if there was traffic.

Fuego called. We chatted. I had gotten a half hour of sleep. I went back to sleep for another half hour before the alarm went off. I got up, turned the alarm off, peed, and got back in bed.

...

Perhaps the warning sirens have just gone off for you.

...

I woke up at 11. Class had just started without me.

So I got up, fed Ginger, took the curriculum to work, and resigned myself to missing the first half of class -- thankfully it's a three hour long class :o)

I did manage to get here at break, turned in my homework, and sought forgiveness for my tardiness.

Oh... I did stop at Noah's for a bagel and got a REAL double Americano -- which might explain why I'm feeling punchy, wide awake, and kind of buzzed as I sit blogging in my Ethics class (the one I'm TA'ing) instead of paying closer attention to my favorite professor's lecture.

I will be rushing home to meet Some-of-the-time-girlfriend for dinner tonight after class (he's house-sitting for us while we're gone!), and then he's taking me to the airport tonight (Thanks SOTTiG!).

Since I generally can't sleep on airplanes, I don't anticipate getting much sleep again tonight, but at least I have a couple hundred pages to read and a paper to write that's due by Friday night to keep me busy...

Yay, vacation. ;o)

This is my sermon from Tuesday the 19th of September...

Readings: Proverbs 3:1-6, Psalm 119:33-40, 2 Timothy 3:14-17, Matthew 9:9-13

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I almost wish we could have read today's gospel first, so that we could have heard the rest of the readings through Jesus' words to the Pharisees – For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.

I must admit that the Calling of Matthew is one of my favorite calling stories in the Gospels. Here we have a man who is despised by his own people for being in league with the oppression of Rome, and against all social conventions of the time, Jesus speaks with him as with any other beloved child of God. In so doing, Jesus shocks and mortifies the pious Jews around him – probably even including some of his own disciples – and what is worse, he obviously accepts an invitation to dine with Matthew shortly thereafter, heaping consternation on his head from the Pharisees.

But Jesus message is made very clear – "Those who are well have not need of a physician." On the surface, Jesus is saying that the righteous aren't the ones who need a messiah, but there are always deeper meanings in Jesus' words…

The Pharisees were a group of very pious, not to mention rich, Jewish laypeople. They knew the law backwards and forwards, they knew exactly what and who Messiah would be, and they expected to know what and whom he would teach. Subsequently, they were judgmental of Jesus and his ministry, suspicious of his intentions, and frequently shocked and mortified at his behavior – especially as more and more sinners and un- pious commoners came to believe in him as the Messiah. They come off, in the Gospels, as being pretentious, malicious, and sinister, but in truth, as Father Rector commented a few weeks ago, these were the model citizens and the elders in their worshipping communities – they would be our vestry members, our most respected and honored parishioners, admired for their commitment, and appreciated for their generosity. The only problem they had was this Jesus, who seemed to have these superhuman abilities to heal and understand God's word and message, and yet had a sub-human taste in companions and a carelessness about the law that undermined everything they stood for.

Although the sinners and outcasts need Jesus in very obvious ways, on a much deeper level, it is the Pharisees that most need Jesus, as it is they who have missed the point of God's love and redemption of Israel through the law. They have condemned those less pious, ostracized them, and likely have demanded the sacrifices from them required by the law in order for them to be a part of the worshipping community. To these hard hearted and closed minded elites, the letter of the law is what is required for salvation, and it keeps them from opening their hearts, minds, and eyes to Jesus' way of understanding God's redemptive love.

"Go and seek what this means," he tells them, "'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."

This passage that Jesus quotes from the prophet Hosea continues, saying "For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." In it, Jesus is making a very clear statement to the Pharisees that what is important is seeking out a relationship with God – all the sacrifices and burnt offerings in the world won't bring us into God's presence if we only concentrate on what we "must" do by the letter of the law. Through their own preference for the law and all of its intricate measures, Jesus warns the Pharisees against missing the spirit of the law, which is a means for humans to be right with God so that they can seek out and develop knowledge of God through relationship.

Jesus calling of Matthew teaches us a valuable lesson about righteousness as seeking to be right with God rather than seeking to be right with the law.

The mistake that these good and righteous people make in condemning Jesus' associations and actions is brought out in the words of Proverbs, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." Seeking to gain God's favor through a zealotry to the law is missing the point. Seeking to understand God through memorizing centuries of human judicial dialogue on the law is missing the point. Seeking to cut others off from God because they transgress what we think is the letter of the law… is missing the point. Those sinners and tax collectors, like Matthew, who trust in their hearts that Jesus has something to teach them about seeking a relationship with God, and are called back into relationship with God simply through their trust and faith, these are the ones who really get it.

The Psalmist reiterates and rewords Jesus' message to the Pharisees and to the sinners around him: "Give me understanding, and I shall keep your law." The law was made for people, not for God. Jesus' teachings lead to understanding – to a deep and abiding love that fulfills the law on a new and deeper level than simply striving against social convention.

Jesus' final words in today's gospel again have a double edge to them – "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners." Continuing the metaphor of the physician, Jesus reiterates that it is the sinners who need him, but again, on a deeper level, he says that in fact it is the sinner who is the one that comes before God in humility, seeking mercy and forgiveness, and as such, is the one that has an open heart and can truly seek a relationship with God. It is a final rebuff to the Pharisees, who because of their righteousness according to the law, seek only to know and be redeemed by the law, rather than seeking to know and be redeemed by God.

Jesus teaches us today that coming before God in humility and seeking to know and be in relationship with God is the heart of righteous faith. Being right with God is an essential condition for our seeking that relationship, but it isn't God that requires it, rather it is our own hearts that cannot approach God while we feel the guilt of our sins or, in the case of the Pharisees, while we are so puffed up with self-righteous pride that we don't need God.

The Good News for us today is that we are called, as Matthew was called, to be in deeper relationship with God, to sit as if at dinner together, and really get to know each other. We are called into the amazing love and forgiveness of a god who wants to know us intimately as friends and eternal companions, and all we have to do is reach out in faith and love to accept that invitation to healing, forgiveness, and deeper knowledge and understanding of God.

Lord, let us walk the path of your apostle Matthew this day, and like him let us, through our penitent and opened hearts, be absolved of our sins and healed of our guilt so that we might again come into your presence in thanksgiving and seek to know and follow you, Amen.

So I watched "The Boys from Baraca" tonight with Fuego. It was a pretty awesome film until about mid-way through... it did an awesome job of demonstrating the crap that the kids in the film had to live with and deal with, and the atrocious condition of their lives, schools, neighborhoods, and families. It did an amazing job of following these truly amazing kids to Kenya where they learned a new way of being with one another and were, for the first time, given the personal attention that most of us take for granted from our grade-school educations.

Where the film let me down was by demonstrating, mid-way through, that the Baraka school ended up completely letting all twenty of these boys down... just like every other institution in their lives.

They come home for two months in the summer and then, toward the end of their "vacation," an emergency meeting is called to let the parents and the kids know that the school has been closed due to civil war near Baraka. This was termed by the meeting coordinator as "a little bit of bad news." Bravo.

That's it. They don't get to go back for their promised second year, they don't get the redemption of having been taught a new way of being, going home and experiencing hell through new eyes, and getting to return to the healthy world they've been shown exists. The next scene is nine months later, when all the boys except four have been abandoned by the documentary (that's 16 boys whom we have gotten to know and who have just disappeared from the documentary's radar). Of the four boys they show, it seems by the end of the documentary that 1 (ONE) had ended up benefiting from the program.

For those who have seen this documentary and were hoping that two of the boys had hope... Montrey ended up dropping out of the good high school he got into after less than one year (you can find some updated information online)... sorry.

So we're left with no better odds than we're given at the beginning of the film -- with less than one quarter of the kids graduating from high school (we get about 20% if we include Richard, the boy with the learning disability, who is reported as taking the GED).

Yay.

Not an uplifting film, but important nonetheless.

Yay sermon... here is my sermon from Sunday the 10th.

Readings: Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23, Psalm 146, James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17, Mark 7:24-37

There has been a lot in the news over the past several weeks that has really given me pause as I struggle with the tensions between what I believe freedom to be versus what I see, hear and experience in the world today. A Hasidic Jew is bodily removed from an airplane for praying before take-off - because his piety too closely resembles Islamic practices (that clearly are also not allowed); a twelve year old girl is left stranded in Las Vegas when her connecting airline refuses to board her off of her flight from London; racial profiling at airports and security stations across the country, which were thinly veiled before, have once again been given license to be openly prejudiced as we seek out the "most likely" candidates to detain and harass; we're being reconditioned to define freedom in narrower and narrower terms as we grow closer and closer to an Orwellian vision of the future in the here and now. And as we are fed more and more fear in our daily media diets, we grow more and more willing to give up the decades of progress we've made in human rights, all in the name of national security.

Tomorrow will be the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and today James brings us a challenge as we continue to move forward through our collective wounds toward a new wholeness that we will have to create for ourselves. Will it be a wholeness that continues to be suspicious of hard-working Americans, and categorizes them as second-class citizens when it comes to travel and civil rights? Will it be a wholeness that continues to elevate the rich and powerful above the laws established for the common citizens, while further dishonoring the poor with lessened freedoms and ever widening inequalities?

James warns us today to show equity in our dealings and treatment of all those around us, to remember Christ's commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to put our faith into practice, lest it be nothing more than nice words and comforting sentiment.

Thankfully we also have a purely unique story from Mark's gospel to accompany James' message of conviction. It seems from our Gospel story today that even Jesus himself needed at least one reminder that his teachings and faith applied to ALL of his neighbors, and not just those with whom he most closely identified.

In a fairly uncharacteristic encounter, Jesus seems to be ready to deny healing to a desperate parent who has come to him seeking healing for her daughter. She was of Syrophoenician origin, a foreigner, a gentile. She looked differently, dressed differently, prayed differently, and yet she believed that Jesus could heal her daughter. Courageously she approached a holy man from another race and religion, seeking desperately for help. Jesus, perhaps having a bit of an off day after his encounter with the Pharisees when his disciples were caught eating with unclean hands, responds irritably. He had left his disciples behind in Galilee and gone to Tyre to find somewhere to be alone for a day. No one seemed to understand what he was trying to teach them, even his closest friends. He hadn't wanted anyone to know he was even there, and yet this foreign woman somehow sought him out and had the nerve to beg a favor of him. "Let the children be fed first," he said. Then, a bit careless for her feelings, he added "for it is not fair to take the Children's food and throw it to the dogs."

Undaunted by his uncharacteristic harshness, this desperate mother plucks up the remains of her dignity and courage and throws Jesus words back in his face. Dispensing with the respectful title of teacher, she addresses him saying, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

I've been there before. I've said things that I wished I could have reached out and snatched back after they escaped my lips. I can only imagine that Jesus must have felt the same way. He responds to her in his more typically compassionate manner, sending her on her way assured that her daughter has been healed.

I don't think it's going too far to say that Jesus learned something about his mission and ministry that day. It may just be that we have this woman to thank for the disciples later ministry to the gentiles - to my recollection, we don't hear of Jesus refusing any other believers in the rest of his ministry. In his own place of frustration and unrest, Jesus encountered the "other." She became for him the key to unlocking the abundance of God's reign beyond the borders of Israel, and he is refreshed and renewed as he heads back toward the Sea of Galilee.

While the people may not have understood the deeper significance of his teachings, it was clear that they were astounded by the abundance that Christ brought to every aspect of his ministry. Deaf ears opened, mute tongues singing praises to God, sight restored to the blind, food for the hungry - and not just enough to have their fill, but so much that they couldn't possibly eat it all. The abundance of the reign of God that Jesus demonstrates and represents to his followers seemed to have no limits, and indeed after opening the floodgates of grace and healing to those outside the house of Israel, the abundance seems only to have grown that much more.

This is what James is talking about when he writes to his followers about the "works" of faith. It isn't enough simply to proclaim the abundance of God's reign. It isn't enough simply to believe that we ought to love our neighbors as our selves. These are nice sentiments that might make us feel warm and fuzzy inside, but unless we carry on in Jesus ministry of action, we fail to do our part to bring about that reign of God where God's inexhaustible abundance is brought to those who most need it. We must actually put our faith into action, learning to love our neighbors, physically reaching out our healing and helping hands to those in need - only then can our faith truly come alive... and only then can we experience the wisdom of the Proverb saying "those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor."

I continue to struggle with what I perceive to be backtracking in human rights and falling into the trap of allowing fear to guide our decision making processes and domestic policies at the national level. But at the same time I have taken heart in the ecumenical dialogues and endeavors that have begun to take place at the local level as different areas begin to seek understanding and cooperation with their neighbors. St. ECWIW's itself has been involved in such dialogues, and just last month, an ecumenical meeting of the youth ministers of D-town met here to discuss monthly ecumenical youth events to promote understanding, friendship, and commonality between our various groups of teens. In working together in service projects, getting to know each other in recreation, and learning more about each other through a weekly Lenten worship exchange, we are attempting as a group to come to an understanding and acceptance of each other that I can currently only dream will someday happen on a global scale.

As we celebrate our program-year kick-off today, let us be ever mindful of the awesome responsibility we've been given as Christ's body in the world, and as we remember the tragedies of September 11th tomorrow, let us not only pray for healing and wholeness, but let us remember that healing and wholeness can only come if it is for everyone. The abundance of God's reign is neither limited nor boundaried. It is not the possession of the rich, nor the right of any single people. It is not even limited to one faith, but, as Christ himself learned, is the gift to all who seek healing and wholeness through a faithful relationship with God.

In the words attributed to St. Francis, Lord, make us instruments of your peace, Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy; Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.

Quick post tonight... have to read 187 pages before I go to bed (...why did I decide it would be fun to take 3 classes and work full time simultaneously?)

Anyway, I don't write poetry very often, but every once in a while it gives some insight into my subconscious (I never know what I'm going to write until it comes out on the paper or keyboard)... I wrote this when I was trying to find a poem on the internet with messianic undertones that wasn't a trite sickly sweet "Jesus is my favorite savior" poem... as you might guess, I couldn't find any. What I ended up writing wasn't something I could use for my teens, but it was an interesting commentary on my state of mind at the time...

Love's indwelling

Anger, fear, resentment, pride
Without a second thought we cultivate
Within our souls and minds the anti-peace.

We're love, sweetness, sugar, nice
With bile in our hearts as we twist the
Dagger in turned backs of supposed friends.

How we cultivate the wickednesses taught
While dismissing kindness as so much
Cliche sentiment, wasted on the heart.

Lost behind the stare of inner eyes
That seeking for some greater good
Became a hook of malice to innocence.

Shunning light until breaking us, it
Shatters though the thousand masks
We've strewn between soul and self

We find ourselves empty to respond
To the darkness drawn from deep within
Our hidden hearts of light.

Then waking from the deadly dream of
Life passed on by collective social sin
Of unacceptance, bitterness, and spite

We look our own immortality in reflected
Eyes of love's lost indwelling
And know peace for the first time.

Gazing beyond masses of still-lost corpses
Strewing love's true path with madness
We find the one whose only gift of death

Brings life renewed to quenched fires,
Rekindling the joy in bringing peace
to another soul Entrenched in darknesses embrace.

The newly kindled light of love, held
High for bringing points of hope
And reconnecting this life to Love's own.

I got tapped by Fuego to do a "20 things I hate about ___" post, so here goes...

The 20 things I hate about not wearing shoes

1. I hate that people think you have to wear shoes in order to be serious.

2. I hate that people think bare feet are in some way unhygienic. (I wash them every time I shower... and sometimes an extra time before bed. How often do you wash your shoes?)

3. I hate that people think shoes determine professionalism. "you won't be able to find a job..." (Thank God St. ECWIW's doesn't think this way!).

4. I hate that people make it their mission to get me to wear shoes. "I'm going to buy you shoes just so you'll feel guilty if you don't wear them..."

5. I hate that people think wearing shoes demonstrates maturity "someday you'll have to grow up..."

6. I hate that people somehow think covering your feet is more important when it's wet outside. "you can't wear sandals in the rain..." Five words: Soaking wet shoes and socks. My feet stay warmer and dry quicker wearing sandals in the rain than they ever did wearing shoes.

7. I hate that people don't respect my choice to not wear shoes. Shoes are confining, they are a hotbed for bacteria, they smell, they make my feet sweat, they're expensive (and the ones that aren't are even worse than this description), and they require socks -- which too easily get holes in them and need replacing, look silly, and are hot hot hot.

8. I hate that businesses claim that it's against "health codes" to have bare feet in their place of business when what they really mean is that they are afraid of the liability of my feet getting cut. Health codes say nothing about bare feet... what can my feet bring in that your shoes can't? Bare feet are actually cleaner than shoes since if I step in something, I notice and clean it off. I'm also a lot more aware of where I step when I'm not wearing anything on my feet, so the likelihood that I'll step in anything gross or hazardous is far less than the typical shoe-wearer walking down the street or aisle unaware of where s/he is stepping until they stick in something, smell something, or impale their foot on something that goes through the sole or side of their shoe anyway.

9. I hate that sandals are seen as less spiritual than shoes. "You can't wear sandals in church..." What do you think Jesus wore? Air Moses's? What does covering your feet with cow skin or synthetic fiber have to do with spirituality?

10. I hate that shoes are seen as "normal" footwear and that sandals are seen as either optional or inappropriate. I'm not trying to make a statement or be a rebel by wearing sandals, I just don't like shoes, which brings me to...

11. I hate that my wearing sandals is seen as some sort of political statement. It only becomes political when people attach their own agendas to it and make an issue out of it.

12. I hate that people think I'm crazy for wearing sandals in the snow... okay it makes some sense, but it's not like I'm trudging through the Alaskan wilderness. I have great circulation in my feet and they stay perfectly warm even if it's snowing while I'm out walking around. Skiing or hiking or camping in the snow would necessitate a different choice, of course, but just general pedestrian traffic works fine!

13. I hate that I can't go without anything on my feet more often! I love being bare foot... in case you hadn't already guessed. I have done camp barefoot (except for meals... "health code" -- pshaw), I hike barefoot, I walk the dog barefoot, I drive barefoot (see #14), pretty much anything I can do barefoot I do -- about the only thing that gets me is hot pavement (see #15).

14. I hate that people think driving barefoot is against the law. I have asked. It's not. But thanks.

15. I hate when the pavement is too hot to go barefoot -- ouch! This really only happens when it's been over 100 degrees for several days, otherwise the calluses do the trick.

16. I hate that people don't appreciate calloused feet! Calluses are awesome, they are natural, they are tremendously helpful, and for me it's soft supple sweaty feeling feet that are gross -- you use them every day and yet you scrape off the calluses or dissolve them with chemicals... why not just learn to appreciate them?

17. I hate that "dressy" and "sandals" are seen as mutually exclusive terms. I happen to have three different pairs of dressy sandals, and when I've worn them to dressy events I haven't gotten a second glance (and no, it wasn't just because people there knew me already).

18. I hate that going barefoot is dangerous. This is a real concern for those of us who go barefoot. Bees, glass, needles, sharp rocks, thorns, dog crap, gum... there are a lot of either dangerous or gross things out there to step on, and you can't always keep an eye on the ground where your next step will land. Even with calluses it's not always safe.

19. I hate that the bottoms of my feet are pretty much permanently discolored. Dirt gets trapped within new calluses, asphalt and tar stain the skin, these things happen. I wouldn't mind, except that folks think it means my feet are dirty even when I've just gotten out of the shower.

20. I hate that people will read this and still think I should just suck it up and wear shoes.

Yikes... between work and school being back in session I got totally swampped last week. It's been fun, but it's been a LOT of work (guess I asked for it ;o). It's nice when "just" working feels like vacation when you're not also reading and writing papers for school.

Hanging out with Sadu Crobinhobin and J-bewan was a blast last night... we had game night with Hetero-S and her boy wonder, Loopy, and Some-of-the-time-girlfriend (Munchkin time!!).

We're still here, about to go on a walk with the pups... gotta run!

Hmm... I got tapped for the "20 things I hate about ___". Too tired to do it tonight... any suggestions for a topic?

Longest short week in history... more later zzz

Fred's Permanent Record

I. 6 April 2003: Born in Healdsburg, CA
II. June 2003: Placed in the care of Healdsburg no kill animal shelter
III. August 2003: Crawled into Garnabus' lap in the kitten room and promptly fell asleep (thus securing himself a place in the family)
IV. 21 August 2003: Received rabies shot, was neutered, was microchipped
V. 22 August 2003: Adopted out under the name of Captain Crunch -- henceforth known as Fred.
VI. 22 August 2003, 12:45pm: At first encounter with a dog (a puppy younger and smaller than Fred), sprang onto Garnabus, spilling his plate (his favorite lunch at the ranch mind you) onto the floor and causing three bleeding gashes in his arm.
VII. October 2003: Crapped on Garnabus' side of the bed when he trapped himself in the bedroom by forcing his way past a weighted door, which closed behind him.
VIII. December 2003: Climbed the Christmas tree.
IX. January-November 2004: Peed in the beanbag chair seven times (he blamed it on his little sister, Ginger) finally resulting in it's being discarded.
X. February 2004: Learned NOT to jump onto the kitchen table anymore (the table was covered with aluminum foil for two weeks with some minor success, followed by much more successful but more pervasive shallow pans of water... it only took two times of his jumping up into wet to decide it was a heinous place to jump!
XI. December 2004: Climbed the Christmas tree, ate ribbon off of Christmas packages, peed on guest's sleeping bag and clothes duffle (out of spite for Christmas guests).
XII. April 2005: peed on full bag of clean laundry.
XIII. May 2005-November 2005: ran laps through the house, banking off of the bed, from 3:30 am - 4:15 am. Pulled up/snagged/destroyed carpet outside bedroom door when it was closed to prevent running laps. Dumped candle into toilet when incarcerated in bathroom to prevent him from ruining the carpet by the bedroom door. (Solution: left one door open to bedroom and if he got rambunctious, we put him in the bathroom until the next time we had to get up to pee... he learned quickly at that point).
XIV. September 2005: Caught his first mouse! (Good kitty!)
XV. December 2005: Drank Christmas tree water (the tree died), climbed the Christmas tree, introduced his friend Teo to the joys of the sooty fireplace (which can then be tracked all over the house)... he blamed it on his little sister, Ginger.
XVI. January 2006: Peed on Ginger's new bed (her Christmas gift) -- he got a Christmas gift too, he was just feeling covetous and spiteful. Thankfully bed could be washed... once.
XVII. July 2006: On a tear that can only be described as pure feline malice, Fred peed on a guest's bag, peed an one of our bags, peed on Ginger's bed (this time it had to be thrown out), peed on Ginger's ENTIRE toy box (which also had to be thrown out along with 85% of her plush toy carcass collection), peed on the NEW beanbag chair (which had to be thrown out), AND peed on our bed -- congratulations, you're a dick.

Fred's Defense: Cat's don't like change. While he is very good with guests and change in small amounts, even Fred can get overwhelmed and acts out in response. With the exception of peeing in the beanbag chair repeatedly, this is all pretty natural behavior considering the circumstances surrounding each episode. Overall, he is a very good kitty -- he's never marked anything, he's never pooped or peed in our shoes, he's never destroyed any furniture or clothes, and he drinks enough that when he does pee on stuff that can be safely washed, it doesn't leave any permanent smell. He's wonderfully affectionate, great with the dog, good with kids, good with visiting animals (dogs and cats alike), and genuinely enjoys our company (unlike many other cats I've known!). As family members go, he's probably ruined fewer things in his first three years than any of the humans in the house ;o)

Big day! Some-of-the-time-girlfriend visited last night, so we got to go out to pizza and spend money on good beer (one of my favorite things to spend money on =o)... I finished our budget, so we know how much we can actually spend on stuff without running out of money before the next payday (very handy!)... turns out we spend about 100.00 per month on coffee (addiction much?). Some-of-the-time-girlfriend and I stayed up until about 3:30 drinking beer and laughing at silly stuff on the internet (you really ought to check this out! http://www.eyezmaze.com/grow/RPG/index.html). The "Grow" games are pretty much what kept us up well past our bedtime, but they're addictive and really fun! The cube one and the RPG one are my favorites, but all of them are great!

Today we got up surprisingly early considering the late hour of retiring last night, had breakfast, and then played on the computer. Some-of-the-time-girlfriend inspired me to update my MySpace account, which is now pretty awesome I must say =o), then Fuego and I went to a wedding (we love weddings!).

We got home and I finished fixing the code in my new MySpace -- surprisingly difficult considering that you're trying to write a .css for elements that you didn't define in the first place -- I finally found two GREAT resources (if you're a MySpac'er, you might find these handy). The first is great for discovering all the names of the attributes you can control in your .css, and the other has the few attributes that the first one lacks... http://www.mygen.co.uk was the most useful, then http://www.freecodesource.com filled in the cracks. Nice!

Okay, off to bed, I have to be at church early!!