My new textbooks are here! I am excited, slightly overwhelmed, tired just thinking about it, excited, anxious, etc. I love to learn, and I ordered these bad boys just over 10 days ago, so I was starting to get a tad impatient (but can't complain when you choose the free shipping option). I'm glad they are here. And I'm glad to start classes in a week (need to read some pages ahead of time...and orientation starts tomorrow! Ah).
Anyway, as usual for me, the intro isn't really what the whole post is about, but usually what started my train of thought. So that's why I started with it.
As I look through my past with Facebook (and other online social media whatevers), there are many times when I just need to take a break. Sometimes the breaks are mandated by myself, and other times the breaks are mandated by my location and lack of internets. Most of the time these facebook breaks are either around the start of the school year, summer, or lent. Ah, you say, that's why she started out with the textbooks. It is the start of the school year and she is feeling like things are about to get busy.
Yes. That is part of it. But the other part is also that I have been thinking a lot lately about status updates, and now, recently, twitter updates, and how I want to use them. Do I really want to just do a boring play-by-play of my life, or do I want to be more thoughtful? Either way, I waste a lot of time, not only updating my status/twitter, but also and moreso with reading other people's statuses and twitterings. Disclaimer: it is not a waste of time to keep in touch with people. It IS a waste of time to know what someone you went to kindergarten with ate for lunch. Most of the time, anyway. Especially when you have a box of books to read, and a new job to figure out. So anyway, when the books arrived today, I was tempted to update my status, letting the world know about my books arriving. But I decided against it.
The people that were around when I picked up the books know that I got them. And those that are truly interested will ask. And for everyone else, it is just one more thing that they are spending too much time reading, when there are so many more meaningful things to do.
So anyway. I am taking a September break from facebook. I will check it from time to time, in case there is anyone who needs to communicate to me, or in case there is someone I need to communicate with....and have no other means to outside of the facebook world. I don't want to downplay the importance of fb, I like it. I like that I can see what people are up to and so easily drop them a note or a comment. But so often, I am prone to use it for wasting time.
So. What does that mean for blogging? Not much. I will probably blog when I can. I have a lot of thoughts these days, and especially now with all these books to read.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Monday, August 30, 2010
Quote of the moment, again
The entire post where I found this quote can be found here.
It’s sad to see so many Christians confusing Mormon politics or American nationalism with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But, don’t get me wrong, I’m not pessimistic. Jesus will build his church, and he will build it on the gospel. He doesn’t need American Christianity to do it. Vibrant, loving, orthodox Christianity will flourish, perhaps among the poor of Haiti or the persecuted of Sudan or the outlawed of China, but it will flourish.
It’s sad to see so many Christians confusing Mormon politics or American nationalism with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But, don’t get me wrong, I’m not pessimistic. Jesus will build his church, and he will build it on the gospel. He doesn’t need American Christianity to do it. Vibrant, loving, orthodox Christianity will flourish, perhaps among the poor of Haiti or the persecuted of Sudan or the outlawed of China, but it will flourish.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Shoe shopping
Ok. So I left a bunch of shoes behind in Lithuania. And before we moved there, I gave a lot of my shoes away. So today I went out in search of some simple, black, flat, dressy but not too dressy, shoes. My requirements were (I thought) simple:
1. Cute
2. Inexpensive*
3. My size (9 1/2)
My first try, Target, was unsuccessful. All the cute shoes did not have my size or were too expensive. All the shoes that were my size were ugly or too expensive (or both). All the inexpensive shoes were either ugly, or not my size. Target, is it so hard to carry shoes in a half size? The good news, is they had some cute slippers that fit me, so I got some of those (left my slippers behind in Lithuania, too).
So then I went to the nearby Marshalls, which is usually right up my alley, but they seemed to have a shortage of shoes as well.
So THEN I went to the next door Ross, a place that I don't go to that often, but am not against. And I was astonished. Not necessarily in a good way...but in such a way that I said, "You're kidding me" out loud and had to laugh as I walked out of the store empty handed. I wish I had thought to take a picture, but I didn't so you get to see what it was like through Paint. It's just as good as a picture, trust me.
They had an entire wall dedicated to shoes size 10 and bigger. Then in front of the wall, they had about 4 aisles of shoes, each size had at least an aisle dedicated to it. Except size 9.5, which had an eighth of an aisle with a few shoes on each shelf. I looked around thinking that maybe they would continue the size near the 10s, but no such luck. It was either big shoes or pillows on the wall. So I didn't get any shoes there.
My assumption at Target was that everyone must be the same size as I am with regards to shoes. My assumption after I left Ross is that no one wears that size, because they don't even bother to have an entire aisle devoted to my size (Steve told me later that since Ross probably gets the leftovers from other stores, it is safe to assume that it is just a really common shoe size, and that's why they don't carry that many of them).
Anyway, I ended up having to go to the mall, and found a suitable pair for only $10. They were pretty cute (not the cutest ones of the day, but suitable. And inexpensive. And fit my feet).
*I try really hard to use the word "inexpensive" when I am talking about low cost. For me the word "cheap" suggests low quality. Sometimes, yes, low cost can mean low quality, but not always. And that is why I make the distinction.
1. Cute
2. Inexpensive*
3. My size (9 1/2)
My first try, Target, was unsuccessful. All the cute shoes did not have my size or were too expensive. All the shoes that were my size were ugly or too expensive (or both). All the inexpensive shoes were either ugly, or not my size. Target, is it so hard to carry shoes in a half size? The good news, is they had some cute slippers that fit me, so I got some of those (left my slippers behind in Lithuania, too).
So then I went to the nearby Marshalls, which is usually right up my alley, but they seemed to have a shortage of shoes as well.
So THEN I went to the next door Ross, a place that I don't go to that often, but am not against. And I was astonished. Not necessarily in a good way...but in such a way that I said, "You're kidding me" out loud and had to laugh as I walked out of the store empty handed. I wish I had thought to take a picture, but I didn't so you get to see what it was like through Paint. It's just as good as a picture, trust me.
They had an entire wall dedicated to shoes size 10 and bigger. Then in front of the wall, they had about 4 aisles of shoes, each size had at least an aisle dedicated to it. Except size 9.5, which had an eighth of an aisle with a few shoes on each shelf. I looked around thinking that maybe they would continue the size near the 10s, but no such luck. It was either big shoes or pillows on the wall. So I didn't get any shoes there.
 |
| Picture not to scale. |
Anyway, I ended up having to go to the mall, and found a suitable pair for only $10. They were pretty cute (not the cutest ones of the day, but suitable. And inexpensive. And fit my feet).
 |
 |
| The flat toe is what sold it for me. That and the fact that they were 10 dollars. |
*I try really hard to use the word "inexpensive" when I am talking about low cost. For me the word "cheap" suggests low quality. Sometimes, yes, low cost can mean low quality, but not always. And that is why I make the distinction.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Neats moskeets
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Quote of the moment
I am currently rereading the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy by Douglas Adams again. I love it, as always. In college, for an announcing class, we had to record ourselves quite a bit, and often I would record myself reading passages of Douglas Adams' wit.
Here is the most frequent one that I read that I loved:
What else was pleasant? he asked himself. Well, so many things: the red and gold of the trees, now that autumn was approaching; the peaceful chatter of scissors a few feet from his bath where a couple of hairdressers were exercising their skills on a dozing art director and his assistant; the sunlight gleaming off the six shiny telephones lined up along the edge of his rock-hewn bath. The only thing nicer than a phone that didn't ring all the time (or indeed at all) was six phones that didn't ring all the time (or indeed at all).
Found in Chapter 32 of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Wings Books, New York, 1980.
Here is the most frequent one that I read that I loved:
What else was pleasant? he asked himself. Well, so many things: the red and gold of the trees, now that autumn was approaching; the peaceful chatter of scissors a few feet from his bath where a couple of hairdressers were exercising their skills on a dozing art director and his assistant; the sunlight gleaming off the six shiny telephones lined up along the edge of his rock-hewn bath. The only thing nicer than a phone that didn't ring all the time (or indeed at all) was six phones that didn't ring all the time (or indeed at all).
Found in Chapter 32 of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, Wings Books, New York, 1980.
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