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Friday, December 13, 2013

Is it really Friday again already?

~~ 1 ~~
In the last week, I've decided on and purchased all my Christmas presents except one. Yay for me! The other one is a joint present that I am still waiting for confirmation on before I buy it. (If you're reading this, and you know what I'm talking about, and you owe me an email, email me!)

~~ 2 ~~
A lot of my homework that I mentioned last week has turned out to not be necessary: I don't have to turn in the first draft of my thesis, and I don't have to do more lab work. Yay! Of course, the reduced stress has caused me to procrastinate. But my current project (a play about John Keats, Ralph Waldo Emerson, creative genius, inspiration, and bipolar disorder) has captured my interest. I hope to have that finished tonight and focus on my 20-page paper over the weekend.

~~ 3 ~~
I have been Facebook-less for about a week now. Do I miss it? Yes, and no. I find myself wanting my Facebook back when I am bored, procrastinating, or depressed. When I am happy or doing something worthwhile, I never even think about it. This just confirms my belief that Facebook isn't good for my soul, because I seem to use it as a sort of short-term narcotic. (I think of soma from Brave New World.)

~~ 4 ~~
One exception: I also wish I could post to Facebook when I read an article that I want to share with the world. I was a page admin on What We're Reading, a page where we'd all post the cool articles we'd stumbled across. It was pretty cool. I just discovered when I went to look up the link that you can read this page without even having a Facebook account. So much for the little productivity I had left! But seriously, go check it out. We're all interested in different things so it's a fairly eclectic (that's the polite word for random, right?) bunch of stuff.

~~ 5 ~~
I need to go to the grocery store....I decided not to go yesterday so I could go to a Mass in a language I don't speak with liturgical dancers. But it's supposed to snow tomorrow. I guess it will be a bus grocery store trip! I would wait for better weather, but looking at the weather forecast, I think I'd run out of food and starve before the weather got better. Also if I don't go before Sunday the flyer will change over and I will have to make a new shopping list. I hate making grocery lists, so this is good motivation.

~~ 6 ~~
About that Mass, no, it's totally not my normal style. So why was I there? It was a Mass for Our Lady of Guadalupe. My friend invited me to go with him. He tells me that Hispanic culture has a tradition of dancing as worship. I take his word on this; I'm not Hispanic. So I wanted to see what it was like. While I see that the style could be a form of worship, I think it was badly integrated into this particular Mass; they just stuck some dancing before the presentation of the gifts. Since it didn't accompany any actual liturgical action, it really felt like a performance. Disappointing. The music was also disappointing; the balance between singing and accompaniment was off and the microphones were terribly distorting.

~~ 7 ~~
On a side note, I totally get now why some people don't like Mass in Latin. I've never been in a Mass where I had so little orientation as to what was happening. On the other hand, if I had had the text and translation, as well as a crash course in how to pronounce Spanish, I think it would've been fine.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

Friday, December 6, 2013

I'm not dead; Seven Quick Takes to prove it

~~ 1 ~~
Hi. Sorry for the radio silence. I am not dead. I am busy and distracted. I've been thinking for a while about how scattered and disorganized my mind has become. This has resulted in the scattering and disorganization of my life. I'm thinking of writing a post about this. Maybe next week's 7QT will be 7 small steps towards simplicity. For now I leave you with this: The Real Reason to Quit Facebook (and 10 What-Ifs).

~~ 2 ~~
I just noticed that my last 7QT post was all about how organized and responsible I'm going to be. Ha. Sometimes life doesn't work out the way you want it to. In my defense, I have a lot of papers to write: a draft of my thesis, which is supposed to be 50 pages long, and a 20 page paper, and a 10 (? I forget) page paper/play. And I have lab work, which isn't a paper but takes a lot of time.

~~ 3 ~~
Have I talked about my thesis? I'm writing about autism and Thomas Aquinas, and the idea is that using Thomas Aquinas and his model of flourishing can help us choose treatment goals. It's interesting, but I'm basically at the point where I've thought enough that I have a good sense of what I want to say. So now I have no interest in actually writing the paper. I thought I liked writing, but usually I write and think simultaneously (which works much better than it sounds like it would). I guess I like thinking, not writing.

~~ 4 ~~
Does anyone read this blog? Just leave me a comment and say hi. I feel like I'm talking to myself.

~~ 5 ~~
I totally failed at the buying-Christmas-presents before Advent goal. Here it is almost week 2 and I haven't even decided for everyone. Fail! On the plus side, I'm going to make a Jesse tree with my CCD class. So I must get some bonus points. It seems like a Jesse tree is the ultimate Overachieving Pinterest Mom symbol and I don't even have kids.

~~ 6 ~~
Kyle got a job in Chicago, so we'll be moving there when we graduate. All other details TBD, but we want to try to go to this church. Jealous? (If not, you probably have terrible liturgical taste. Just kidding. Except not really.)

~~ 7 ~~
Well that was a fairly unkind note to end this post on. But I can't think of anything better to say. I will try to post more in the future so people don't scold me for abandoning my blog (HI SOPHIE).

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!