29 June 2007

Friday Five: Gifts and Talents!

1. Personality tests; love them or hate them?
Love them -- but they're not the Gospel truth in any sense of the word. But as a tool to open up conversation and to think about things with a new paradigm... they have their uses.

2. Would you describe yourself as practical, creative, intellectual or a mixture?
I'd say a mixture of practical and intellectual. I'm a bit of a nerd, about just about everything. I'm not really at all creative, which always grieves me a bit, because it seems like it would be nice to have that gift.. But alas, no. Brains and a gift for tinkering, that should be enough for one ordinary girl.

3. It is said that everyone has their 15 minutes of fame; have you had yours yet? If so what was it, if not dream away what would you like it to be?
I haven't had it and don't particularly want to. Just let me toil and work.. that's all the satisfaction I need. (As an example, I haven't been to any of my graduations. I loved the work, I had plenty to be proud of, but I'm not interested in the spotlight. Just give me something to research and learn about, or a mechanical problem to solve.)

4. If you were given a 2 year sabbatical (oh the dream of it) to create something would it be music, literature, art.....something completely different...share your dream with us...
I'd probably work out a plan for reading, research and writing. I can imagine trying to write a book someday.

5. Describe a talent you would like to develop, but that seems completely beyond you.
Art. I can't draw or paint. Knitting, needlepoint, cross-stitch, and crochet, I can do, because there are rules and patterns to follow. But I can't come up with a vision of something and create it. My friend Miranda can do this, and I admire it tremendously.

Bonus question: Back to the church- what does every member ministry mean to you? Is it truly possible to encourage/ implement?
This isn't a term I hear bandied about -- but I think it's the same thing we Episco's call baptismal vocation? Hrm. Anyways, to me, baptismal vocation is the idea that every person is a minister of the Church by virtue of their baptism. I believe it to be true, and that this understanding needs to be encouraged more. Implement? I think God is implementing it in ways that we as people of an institution can never grasp. It may not be that every person participates in the institutional life of the church in the way we think they ought, but that doesn't mean that they aren't ministers of the Gospel in ways we can't grasp. I don't think baptismal vocation is something to be implement, but something to be claimed as an affirmation of what God is up to in the world through each and every one of us.

25 June 2007

not again!

I've been a bit delinquent in my blogging.. dare I say neglectful?

Let's see: I finished the spring semester, I worked through mid June at the University Chaplaincy, and I'm now taking a summer intensive course on preaching (2 weeks, 2.5 hrs per day, four more days). And then, I'll relax for a few weeks in July before going to the Kenyon Summer Conference on the MDGs. In August, more rest and a trip home to Georgia. And then, before you know it, September will be here, and I'll get right back into the midst of things!

I'm afraid I don't have anything terribly interesting to say.. the most interesting thing to happen today was the solicitors who rang the bell around 8pm. Now, this happens a lot, as we live in a dense city and a particularly well-off neighborhood (nevermind that we live in an apartment and with both of us in grad school... well, you get the picture). So I go to the door, and look through the peephole. I see the binders and the gear of solicitors. And I think to myself, it's been a long day, from class to several hours of copying and then the gym, all while hauling around a 20-lb messenger bag -- quite literally, since I took the liberty of weighing it at the gym. I decided not to open the door, since I would only have to tell them that I'm not interested. I waited until they went away, and then went off to see what Steve was making for dinner. Five minutes later, I hear someone yelling outside about how "they" wouldn't even open their door. Yep, that would be me. And I don't seem to feel very guilty at all.. well, maybe just a little. Soliciting is a terrible job, but that doesn't mean I want to deal with it in my own space.

15 June 2007

Books! More books! Friday Five

This is my kind of Friday Five! I love books -- I read all the time. I have my own books, of course, but I also have library cards to three library systems (public, seminary, the university nearby). I'm the only person I know who maxed out her library card at 14 (75 books -- I mean, really Geauga County, do you think that's enough for me?) The librarians swore I single handedly raised their circulation levels when I was in town.

I take my books seriously :)


1. Fiction what kind, detective novels, historical stuff, thrillers, romance????
Mysteries, histoical fiction, epics, romance, scifi/fantasy, children's lit, nonfiction, poetry, classics -- I pretty much read everything. Very eclectic!

2. When you get a really good book do you read it all in one chunk or savour it slowly?
Ah, well, I really have no patience.. I can't stop, once I start reading a book (unless I've read it before, and some times not even then!).. this is dangerous. Ever since I was little, if I started a book at bedtime or before I needed to do something or be somewhere, I couldn't put it down. I can't tell you how many times I would be up till 3am or reading surrepticiously in my lap during class. Yeah, I got in trouble a lot for reading.

3. Is there a book you keep returning to and why?
I reread books all the time, so I'll stick to the most unusual returning pattern. I've read the James Herriot books (all five, 300+ pages each) at least twice a year since I was in fourth grade. Sometimes more often than that. I'm very fond of them -- it's like meeting an old friend.

4. Apart from the Bible which non-fiction book has influenced you the most?
That's a tough one.. I don't know if I could say which has influenced me the most. One of my favorites, though, is Bill Bryson's The Mother Tongue: English and How It Got that Way. It's funny and interesting. Most importantly, it's funny -- I reread this one too.

5. Describe a perfect place to read.
I like to be comfy when I read -- couch, bed, squishy big chairs. The perfect place is anywhere horizontal with a cushion, pretty much.

11 June 2007

yum yum YUM!

Our friend Hallie came over for dinner last night, and after cooking up some very tasty bolognese and pasta, we made PB&J bars, adapted from Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa at Home.


And let me tell you... they are good! Definitely good enough to stay up late for. Recipe to follow!

07 June 2007

Lesson No. 132

Do not commute by bicycle when the tourists are in town.

You might think that sensible drivers would check for oncoming cars before attempting to parallel park, and that in so doing they might notice the bicyclist toodling along at 3 mph, and therefore NOT swing their behemoth SUV directly into said bicyclist's path... but no. You would be wrong.

And it is for this reason that I say unto you: Life lesson no. 132 is Remember that the tourists aren't accustomed to cyclists in the road. For your safety, do not commute by bicycle when the tourists are in town.