Candace and Daniel squishing Flowers 

Lacey and Craiggers, having a spat on the couch... awkward... 

The gang, full of turkey and/or veggie dumplings. Except Ben walked out of the room when I set up the camera... 

Spuggles and me giving thanks 

Dana hacking up the bird (that she and I cooked) at our 2nd annual Potassium Thanksgiving Dinner

Turkey Time!

Dana and I have washed and greased the turkey.
Seriously.
And we removed the bags of whatever from inside,
salted and peppered it,
shoved it in a bag,
and now it's cooking at 350.

In about an hour and a half
a bunch of our friends
will descend upon our apartment,
hopefully with side dishes and desserts in hand,
and we will share a meal
and expressions of gratefulness.
No doubt there will be laughter,
pictures,
and probably some singing.

Russell just got here and said
"I've got some shucking to do."

Life is good.

In Case of Emergencies in the Desert

http://www.wikihow.com/Regain-Control-of-a-Spooked-Camel


Don't forget, if you have to jump off -- say, if rapidly approaching a cliff -- hit the ground running.
I suppose that's where that phrase came from. Disgruntled camels gave us a phrase that has been used to increase productivity in corporations nationwide.

Awesome.

Done

I have written a sermon.
A short sermon, but a sermon nonetheless.

Now, I skim the chapter for the quiz and then I sleep!

I'm preaching in 9 hours

and I haven't started the sermon.
Who's surprised?

Luckily, a few conversations with friends
and fellow seminarians
along with a few re-readings of the text
have lead me to some decent ideas.

Off to see where this goes...

paper

so, I have a paper due tomorrow.
so, I have written about one page of the required 4.
4 is not that many.
I just don't want to write it.
I am not a good student.
there might be more posts to come.

in other news,
my fingertip is regaining some semblance of normalcy.
the old skin and the new underneath skin have become friends
and are working together.
looks like Dave Scott was wrong
and I won't be losing it after all.
awesome.

Busy week...

Here's what's going on in my life this week:

campus ministers meeting and meeting re: my life as a PK (already occurred today)
race dialogues
2 fake internship meetings
paper due tomorrow
Candler Thanksgiving dinner
preach on Wednesday morning
Wesley on Wednesday night
lunch with a student
big meeting with Georgia campus ministry peeps, for which I'll miss a class
taking a student to and from the airport
Dana and Beth's famous Tgiving potluck
group meeting for class project

So, if you live near me, go to school with me, or otherwise interact with me regularly, this list is where I'll be this week. Not that it's an unusual list. I'm just saying.

And next week is Thanksgiving. It snuck up on me. But I can sleep then. And play with a kitten. And maybe go to Charleston and wander around.

The semester is rapidly nearing its end. That's crazy.
This post is ridiculous.
Rock on.

Here's what I thought yesterday afternoon:

the weather is gorgeous
the trees are bright and beautiful
dr. erskine brought the word
and the drummers and choir brought the music
samantha had a sandwich when i needed one
i'm wearing striped socks
i got a message from a long lost friend, and this is his birthday
i get to go with a friend from college to a play that stars another friend from college
i'm eating dinner at the flying biscuit
i have a new cd of acoustic foo fighters

I gotta tell ya

I hate exegesis.

Last time, I thought that exegesis and I had worked something out.
I thought we could be friends eventually.
Sorely mistaken.
Severly off-base.
Sadly incorrect.

Alas.

The OnGoing Saga

If you are an avid BethBlog reader,
or if you just scroll down a bit,
you will recall that I burned the crap out of my fingertip
during my halloween costume assemblage.

Well, when it happened
I had to pull the glue off really quickly
so it wouldn't stick to my finger forever,
and the skin puckered up for a while
before the initial blister formed.
That blister hardened to an odd degree
like a callous, but I've never played guitar.

Just now, that fingertip
seems to have decided to secede from the union.
The skin has once again puckered up,
soft from the shower,
and is beginning to tear away.

What will happen to the rest of my finger
if the tip jumps ship?

Registration

Here's what I'm taking next semester:

Images of Christ
Howard Thurman
Public Worship
Religious Education as Transformation
UMC Polity

Rock on. So much classes.

Jay and Sara seem to have had some costume changes... 

Roberta and Lewis -- ah Christian Thought memories 

Parker, the President, WandaKitty, and me 

A cute little ladybug, Homeland Security, a trucker guy named Greg, Groucho, and the Devil's Advocate heading out to the Cotton Winn -- Hirsch house 

I was a ladybug. I burned the crap out of my fingertip making my antenae headband, and Dana had to pin the spots to my shirt for me. Lane was the Angel of the Morning, you know like the song. Fun times. 

20 pages

I realized at 2:30 today that I had written
20 pages in the previous 24 hours.
And I slept 4 hours last night.
So that's a pretty good awake hours to pages ratio.
1:1

I bet that they are high quality pages, too.

10:06

I have a lot left to write.
Sleep, my old friend, we shall have to reschedule our date for tonight.

Plodding Along

I'm making progress, though it's slow going.

I want some pizza.

I have a blog post forming in my head about this song line
(from "Grace" by Rebecca Loebe):
"we told each other secrets
the way that strangers sometimes do"


Bah. Back to work.
Bah, I say.

"a room full of changes, strangers, illusion, confusion.
I speak from my heart but I'm not really sure if it's true..."
~ Indigo Girls from "Lay My Head Down"

Oh, Holy Nite!

So, carving pumpkins is fun,
but it requires a great deal of clean up.
As does making chili, grilled cheese sandwiches, and cookies.

In other news,
I have done one question on my Ethics midterm.
It is possible that I have 2.5 points (out of 100) already.
I am 1/40 of the way done with the exam.
Awesome.

I have a meeting all morning tomorrow
and more meetings all Tuesday morning.
I am determined to get several more of the short answer questions done before I leave my office, though campus security might come kick me out soon.
Off to work some more!

45 minutes

is not enough sleep.

Now you know.
You heard it here first.

Bahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

It's 11:13.
I have had a mostly productive day
(read several sermons, bought the book and read half the assignment for ethics and went to class and wrote the tiny paper and went to colloquy, ate Korean cultural dinner, talked about the Holy Spirit and real life with Dana)
yet I have very little written for my midterm
due at 9:30am.

It's muggy in my house.
Stupid chiller/boiler switch.

I made cookies.
First, I dragged Daniel to the store to buy dough.
Then, I tackled him.
I felt compelled.

Okay,
working...

Quotes

Dana reminded me that I love these quotes.


"You will find poetry no where unless you bring some of it with you."
-- Joseph Joubert

"Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing."
-- Clive James

Ugh

I hate midterms.
I have
a take-home for Theology of Wesley due tomorrow (up to 12 pages),
another take-home for Ethics due Tuesday (only Jesus knows how many pages that will be),
and a 5 page paper for Non-Profit Leadership due Tuesday.

Lots of posts this weekend, probably...
Perhaps a few today.

BurnBall

Dana and Jay are playing a game in the living room.
It involves a mini beach ball that came in some junkmail from Mazda, various racquets, and two friends flailing about the room.

Points are called "burns,"
and acquiring "quadruple burn" (4 consecutive points) wins the set.
You have to call "burn," "double burn," "triple burn," "quadruple burn" for the point to count.
The ball can be bounced off any object in the room, including walls and ceiling, but hitting a painting is puts the ball out of play.
Breaking something is an "anti-burn" which results in automatic loss of the set (or game, depending on what broke).
An out of bounds or otherwise out of play ball is a "non-burn."
A player can use their hand to hit the ball, but not on their first hit of the play.
The ball must be hit up or straight, not down.
There is a no-person's-land in the middle, over which players must hit the ball, like a net but much larger. Balls that stop in that area are non-burn.
Each player only gets one time out per game.
Each whole game has three sets, like tennis.
Also, you can't win on a contested ball.

Here are quotes from the game thus far:
"That's a burnless match!"
"Hey, I was scared of Beth's face."
"Ooooh, that's the best play in Burnball history! You wiped out my triple burn!"
"Wooh, I'm going to have to get some burn pants."
"Yeah, when do we get to start grunting? Unh!"
"This table might become the bane of my Burn existence."
"I broke your burn."
"You know three burns is a turkey. It's part bowling."
"That was like an accidental burn." "It was like a first degree."
"This set is taking too long. We're getting tired." "Or we're getting really good."
"Burn, burn, burn! It's like you're in a lake of fire."
"That was a baby burn. You have to have two baby burns to equal an adult burn." "It was a burn bunt!"
"Burn off your face!"
"You're robbing me of my burns!"
"No, you don't play nasty. That's the number one rule of burnball."
"Style burn!"
"We don't take water breaks! That's why it's called burnball."
"No! You already had your one count contestation!"

The game has its roots (15 minutes before I started writing this post, which is now over an hour ago) in Jay hitting the ball with the racquet to Dana and me; we in turn would hit the ball back with the palms of our open hands.

Yipes! What the...?

Today, I was running to class
literally
and I felt a pinch on my right foot.
Somehow
a yellow jacket GOT IN MY SHOE.
(Becca, this is not what I meant.)

So, basically,
a bee stung me on the top of my foot.
It hurts.

I love those things...

I'm reading an article for class and it is:
feminist
about love
short

Now, I must go write a paper about it!

Just so you know

I can still do cartwheels.

My office is large enough to do cartwheels.

I just did two.


I am slowly progressing, but this exegesis may never end!
Time for some music,
and, evidently,
cartwheels in my office.

Guide Me into an Unclenched Moment

Gentle me,
Holy One,
into an unclenched moment,
a deep breath,
a letting go,
of heavy expectancies,
of shriveling anxieties,
of dead certainties,
that, softened by the silence,
surrounded by the light,
and open to the mystery,
I may be found by wholeness,
upheld by the unfathomable,
entranced by the simple,
and filled with the joy
that is you.


~Ted Loder, Guerrillas of Grace

The Indigo Girls Concert Thursday night

The Indigo Girls.

my girls dancing, or something... they had a really good time 

Candler group shot at concert 

Lane with a cone on her head. She is a silly lady.

Autumn

The leaves are
Donning new gowns of red and orange
Making their olympic high dives
Swirling around my head

Sometimes
on sunny days
I like to walk with my eyes closed
peeking quickly every five or six steps
to avoid a concussion

Just now
wind danced
sun shone
leaves fell
and I remembered
to look
when I crossed the street

Here are some things that are true

It's the morningtime.
I get to have lunch with Joy today.
My shoes finally arrived at REI, and I hope they are as awesome as they sound -- trailrunning MaryJanes.
I'm going to see the Indigo Girls tonight!
My Twins are not making the most of their home field advantage in the playoffs.
Fritz Hun-do is not dead. He just likes to be still.
Dave Scott's blogs about substituting make my day.
I have a lot of reading and writing to do.
There is an ivy wall outside my living room window, and it makes me feel like I'm in one of my favorite childhood books, The Secret Garden.
I preached a tiny little sermon yesterday about Zacchaeus.
I must go take a shower now.

I hate homework

I don't want to do it.
So I haven't.
Alas, it's for a grade.
In fact, it's still the paper from yesterday.

Today was busy.
Good, though.

Al Gore freaked me out.
Looks like we're doomed.
I have to switch my lightbulbs.

Awesome

I'm just sitting, staring at a pile of papers
hoping that one of them will suddenly clue me in
about how to write this paper.
How do I evaluate an agency that I have only visited when it was closed?

In other news,
I have been quite productive today.
I wrote a (perhaps terrible) sermon,
dropped off two pairs of jeans and one pair dress pants to be altered,
bought a winter coat and a cute brown blazer,
lined up a program for Wednesday Wesley,
and provided the Candler Singers with copy machine access.

If only I could add
"finished my second academic endeavor of the day"
to that list.

Alas.
I'm going to dinner with Anjie.
I love dinner.

Going to the Playoffs

My Twins clinched their Division.
Joe Mauer ended the regular season with a .346 batting average, beating Derek Jeter for the batting title. Also, Mauer is the first AL catcher to win that title. Ever.

I love baseball.

I just bought some shirts on mlb.com.

Wonder what will happen...

Here are some facts:
1) I am in my office.
2) I need to read for Bible Study tonight, put together a worship service, and do some office work.
3) It is gorgeous outside.
4) There are swings right outside my window.

What do you think?

Mix CD

Alabama Smile -- Ward Williams
Your Misfortune -- Mike Doughty
He Went to Paris -- Jimmy Buffett
Big Front Porch -- Abi Tapia
Close Your Eyes -- Jump Little Children
Hide Me Away -- Anna Hutto
All This Time -- Rebecca Loebe
Gracie -- Ben Folds
The Long Way Around -- Dixie Chicks
Nothing to Hold Me Down -- Abi Tapia
Grace -- Rebecca Loebe
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da -- Beatles
DWC -- J
Long Slow Slide - Jewel
Not Ready to Make Nice -- Dixie Chicks
The Only Answer -- Mike Doughty
For a While -- Abi Tapia
Do You Remember -- Jack Johnson
Lay Me Down Lowly -- Rebecca Loebe
Cathedrals -- Jump Little Children

It's the third week of school

and already I'm up at 2:00am
trying desperately to finish a paper
so I can go to bed.
I hate exegesis.

This thing is due in 6 hours.

A litte laffy in my taffy

What did the little boy tell the game warden?

That his dad was in the kitchen poaching eggs!



What do you call a chicken crossing the road?

Poultry in motion.

A Vocational Vote of Confidence

I was walking through Brooks Commons at school,
stopping to talk to friends,
whining about hating homework.
I said
"I like being AT school,
I just doing like being IN school."
Marianne said
"And that's why you'll make the perfect campus minister."

What lovely affirmation.
If only...

My Fortune

"You thrive on the unexpected."

The Braves dugout. They lost, but it was amazing being that close. I love baseball. I mean it. I love it. 

Francoeur and A. Jones, my favorites, in the same picture... 

Jeff Francoeur batting again. So close. 

Andruw was on second. There was a conference on the mound and all the infielders came to talk to Andruw. They were just all hanging out. 

Seriously, I was close. And I was giddy about it. I love baseball. 

Dontrelle Willis hitting for the Marlins.  

This is a way more fun picture of Andruw hitting. (I took 73 pictures...) 

This one's for Dana. 

And there's Jeffrey.  

Andruw hitting. I was so close I almost couldn't stand it.

Adam LaRoche batting. He stands up quite straight... 

This is how close my seat was at the baseball game tonight. The guy on the left in the striped shirt is Don and next to him is his wife, and they gave me the tickets. They pretty much rock. 

Remembering

Five years ago, I was just starting my US-2 experience
training for the job.
On a break from the employment readiness program,
a co-worker told me about the planes that his buildings
and the theories that had begun to formulate.
I sat in my car and listened to NPR
until I had to go back inside.

I held a prayer vigil the next night
in the parking lot of the shelter
where I lived and worked.

That Sunday,
I went to the big steeple church downtown.
We sang patriotic hymns and
in the sermon the minister repeated the phrase
"America will prevail."
I did not feel better.

I felt detached in the next weeks.
I had no tv access, so I missed the onslaught of images.
I bought newspapers and magazines.
I listened to NPR.
I tried to understand, to get a sense of what was happening.

I was learning about the business of social work,
working with homeless parents,
playing with precious kids,
talking with volunteers.
The work I came to do
did not change because of the attack.

Almost two years later,
I hobbled around NYC on crutches,
my right knee recovering
from being crumbled when I crashed my car.
I stood with Kristin at the site
trying to glimpse the hole where the towers had been.
I sat in the church across the street
that had housed, fed, and cared for the rescue workers.
I shook my head at the tables
where people sold souveniers.
I took a picture with some firemen
and construction workers.
I didn't make eye contact
with the machine-gun toting police officers.


My life has changed in the last 5 years.
Then, I was just learning about homelessness
as an accidental missionary.
Now, I'm taking a non-profit leadership class
in seminary.
Then, I was the resident manager in a shelter/self-sufficiency program.
Now, I am a campus minister and theology student with 2 roommates.
Then, I had just moved to Tallahassee.
Now, I've been in Atlanta for over 2 years.
There are other differences.
I'm not ready to talk about all of them.
But some are wonderful, and some make me really sad.

Time passes.

Overwhelm

There are times
when you realize that your life
will not be what you thought.

Another Installment

Of the Most Fun Spammer Names:

Monarchs H. Reopened
Hushed T. Courtesy
Flood V. Sanitizes
fatness children
Operand R. Beachcomber
Aquaplanes K. Friskiness
Bishopric E. Pulse
Spacious V. Mosque
Leftism G. Compunction
Gigabytes B. Proprietorship