Gothic Granola

This is going to be one of those self-absorbed posts wherein I talk about what I did and not about what I've made. Week before last, TC's mentor asked him to come to DC to work on his house, and TC insisted that I accompany him. We both worked, a lot. While I pulled days in the office with significant overtime, TC put his mentor's house back together (not a small exaggeration there).   Before we left, we saw these two kitties in a dusty window on Main Street.  

Reposting this blog has brought much reflection. 2011 was my first taste of freedom as an intern in DC. 2012 I sought to recapture that freedom, but such things cannot be duplicated. 2013 was divided into nine months in the Working Class University of Life and School of Hard Knocks followed by  Gothic Charm School . 2014 got off to a rocky start, but now we're in the Rockies.  Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt  I invalidated in this instance as TC and I worked at improving our outlooks on life before the move, with great success. Another recipe without many pictures, so there are cat pictures instead!

Reposting this blog has brought much reflection. 2011 was my first taste of freedom as an intern in DC. 2012 I sought to recapture that freedom, but such things cannot be duplicated. 2013 was divided into nine months in the Working Class University of Life and School of Hard Knocks followed by  Gothic Charm School . 2014 got off to a rocky start, but now we're in the Rockies.  Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt  I invalidated in this instance as TC and I worked at improving our outlooks on life before the move, with great success. Another recipe without many pictures, so there are cat pictures instead!

Researchers recently presented findings from analyzing the 2005-2006 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in San Francisco at the American Sociological Association. They found that college-educated workers moved more on weekends while workers with a high school diploma or less moved more during the week. The study lead author, Jarron Saint Onge, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Kansas, pointed out why this is so: "work-related activity [for less-educated, working-class people] tends to be low intensity and typically involves repetitive motions that can have harmful health effects."  Woo, HIIT!

Researchers recently presented findings from analyzing the 2005-2006 U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in San Francisco at the American Sociological Association. They found that college-educated workers moved more on weekends while workers with a high school diploma or less moved more during the week. The study lead author, Jarron Saint Onge, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Kansas, pointed out why this is so: "work-related activity [for less-educated, working-class people] tends to be low intensity and typically involves repetitive motions that can have harmful health effects."  Woo, HIIT!

Thesis: The so-called glorification of busy in 21st-century, first world business stems from an unconscious cultural reverence of saints and mystics, and martyrs, to a lesser extent. Bias: I studied martyrs, mystics, and saints in college and see their characteristics everywhere: self-sacrificing, obsessive, whole-soul commitment to a cause that extends (sometimes) beyond their personal aims.

Most days, I ride my bike to work. After a few months, I figured out something... Rules for wearing a skirt (of any length) while riding a bike: 1) Don't. 2) Bring safety pins--both to pin up a long skirt before and to fix the inevitable rips afterwards. 3) Lose sense of shame. 4) Wear cute undies because you will flash people. 5) See Rule #1. Especially because of the cold, I've given up on skirts for a while. Soup! Because it's cold outside. There's probably 1,001 variations on some vegan, gluten-free, roasted butternut squash curried soup because it is brainlessly easy to prepare. Even a zombie could make it.

I came home from work. I made soup. I ate it. I was calm.

If you have known and corresponded with me for any length of time, at some point you will receive a picture of a written page instead of a typed message. In the case of my dear friend KJC, I sent her fourteen-page letters composed over several days and Metro rides last fall, pretty much every week. Writing is more efficient for me than typing, though I type faster than I write. Not all efficiency is speed, however. Writing with pen and paper satisfies me physically, spiritually, mentally, and emotionally more than typing (though there of course are times where my graphomania requires digital paper and ink, and much of it). Nay, while I may seem to undergo Luddite fits in which I shun technology, generally I am amenable to the shiny devices (phone, compy, iPad, iPod, camera) and the connectivity they provide. I just make them work for me.

Stretch it, psyche! “Everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace” (Isaiah 30:5, NRSV).  Yes, dear readers, like many before me, I’m doing a circular, self-referential hermeneutic of the Bible.  Speak English?  I’m reading my life into and from the Bible and/or other sacred text I find on the path.

I’m not going to tell you how to make oatmeal.  This was today’s breakfast when I assembled it on Wednesday night.  I like to make my oatmeal ahead of time and eat it all cold and stuff the next morning.  I used a little too much water, as you can see, and it almost flooded the bowl.  I was urging my oatmeal (and pear, flaxseed, and peanut butter) to absorb more water, yelling—SUCK IT!  SUCK IT UP!