View from the Bridge

Photo: Charles Stanford, 2008.


This excerpt says it best:

"For centuries Christians have gotten it backwards; we have presumed that we are to take the gospel to the poor. Instead, I invite you to receive the gospel from the poor. These true stories of the least, the lost, and the forgotten will bring you face to face with the Good News in the midst of poverty and injustice in a way that inspires you to join the fight for justice."

For those who know me, you know I am not an extremely religious person, though if pressed I would agree that there is a higher power, an infinite "being," perhaps even a stronger source that guides and defines our ends, but here is a woman who has a purpose, a goal, a voice, an anger, a directness, and, yes, great writing, that dispels with the BS and gets to the realistic point: Helping the poor of Richmond, Virginia.  I, in true fairness, do not share the totality of her religious belief, but I support her nonetheless.  Her weaponry of choice would not be mine, but I do dare to say that we fight the same evil.  And she has done more than I.

Those of you who know me also know that I am no fan of what is commonly called "organized religion."  Despite my beliefs and wails, I have done little to justify my disbelief with organized religion; I have not put my powers, such as they are, to use, and not just fall back on the once-a-week visits on Sundays.  Ms. McCaig grew disillusioned, but, then, unlike me and others like me, she went out there and did something about it.

This blog is her ongoing description of her fight.  I urge you to, at the very least, look at her blog.  Maybe someone with the same ideals can start such a movement in his/her own neck of the woods.  I would not mind doing so around here.  For some exciting reading with a powerful message, a strong purpose and relevance, and very strong voice and honest emotion, go to this blog: http://wendymccaig.wordpress.com/.

I'm in the Mood for Something Random

Random thoughts:

I've put pictures on most of the blog entries on this site.  Go look at 'em.

Most overlooked Christmas movie: Die Hard!  Sure, A Christmas Story is funny, and Charlie Brown cartoons are cuter and more nostalgic, but who can deny that Die Hard kicked Christmas butt in the 80s?  I still quote Alan Rickman saying: "When Alexander saw the breath of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer.  Benefits of a classical education."  I remember seeing it in the theater and people laughed A LOT, and we were blown away by the sound.  One of the first to use the new sound technologies.

I'm seriously jonesing Sherlock Holmes.  Don't know why.  Haven't seen the latest Robert Downey movie.  But I did just buy an awesome huge book of the short stories as originally published in The Strand Magazine, with the original drawings by Sidney Paget, and the original type from that era.  Cool, man.  I'm listening to a reading of Sherlock Holmes by the guy who does Shut Up and Think!  Go there and check him out.  He sounds a bit like Rush Limbaugh, but I'm not holding that against him.  He must get a ton of traffic, because two ads precede everything you click on.

Gotta work more on my writing and on my paper.  A bit of anxiety is beginning to creep in about both.  Paper is due December 7th or so.

Losing weight isn't hard.  A few simple rules: Burn off more calories than you consume.  Do more, eat less.

I will never be able to clean out this office.  I fight an avalanche of paper and mountains of books every day.

I'm busy almost every second of the day, but I never seem to get everything done that I want/need to get done.  How can that be?

I have more books to read than all books combined that I have ever read.  Or it just seems that way.

Baseball season couldn't start soon enough.  I'm hoping that it'll be so cold this winter that it won't snow.

I'm feeling so overwhelmed that I Googled daily planner forms and printed them out and am using them.  I can't tell if that's responsible, or pathetic.

I have at least three short stories I haven't sent out yet.  I have three novels I'm trying to write, all at once.

I go back to work tomorrow.  It's been 4 days and I haven't come close to accomplishing everything I wanted.  I realize that I'm coming across as a bit of a nut about this.  I feel like I'm losing time, but for what?

I'm tired of the Blogger stats not working.  What happened?  Blogger says it's working on it.

I got accepted to RIC and URI networking sites on LinkedIn, but when I scrolled through the members, I didn't know any of them.  I'm a member of 20 groups, just on LinkedIn alone, which seems like too many, and not enough, at the same time.  I become exhausted and eye-strained just responding to all those things.

Josh Hamilton and Joey Votto will be one-hit wonders, especially Votto.  His 328 total bases for an MVP has to be amongst the all-time lows.  Hamilton has a few more good years if he keeps his eyes on the prize.

That's enough randomness for now.  There'll be more to come, believe me.

Gotta Cut Back

I haven't officially recovered from Thanksgiving, but I am already ruing the fact that I can't eat everyday what I ate then.  Baked mac and cheese; bread; five different desserts; lasagna; cornbread; mashed potatoes; a few other things I've already forgotten--all that while visiting with my better half's clan.  Then, at a friend's, one slice of apple pie, one slice of pumpkin cream pie, and one slice of chocolate cream pie.  Surprised I could walk the next day!  Whew!

As I write this blog, and comment on the 20 groups I've joined--and that's just on LinkedIn!--and update my profiles on all those sites, and more, it's occurred to me that I'm doing so much to advertise my writing that it's prevented me from getting any writing done!  How absurd!  So I've decided, starting now, to only spend an hour commenting on these things per day, and unfortunately I'm going to have to completely put aside all of the mss. I said I'd try to review for this blog and/or my site.  (In my defense, I gave all those folks a lot of IFs, but I still feel badly about it.)  I just can't do it all, plus my actual career (which itself would exhaust most normal people), plus take care of the house and have something that at least mimics a life.  And, oh yeah, the reading and writing that must get done.  I mean, I just realized right now that I've left a blanket in the washing machine for a few days, and my hallways look like mineshafts.

Gotta do less to do more.  I need some sort of daily schedule, like Ben Franklin kept.

And a special get well to my better half's mother, who was not feeling well on Thanksgiving and had to stay in.

That just ain't right.  Better than on Christmas, I guess.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Taking the night off to recover from the day's eating.  Hopefully I'll get some reading and writing done, too.

Thanks

I'm thankful for my better half.  I'm thankful for her tolerance!  I'm thankful that I have so much spare time that I can operate a site and blog.  I'm thankful I have enough spare time to check up on them maybe more often than I should.  I'm thankful for my career at a time when jobs are scarce--and job security perhaps more so.  I'm thankful for my home--and for my ability to afford one--at a time when others are in such forced chaos.  I'm thankful for my ability at my job.  I'm thankful for my imagination; it saves me from the tedium that destroys some lives.  I'm thankful for my writing ability that allows me to express this creativity; others better than me are frustrated by their lack of expression.  I'm thankful for my life thus far; others far greater than me have died younger.  I'm thankful for my future chances; others have prospects much more dim.  I'm thankful for my books; they give me the safety that sometimes my writing does not provide.  I'm thankful for all the (seemingly thousands) of books that I have read, for they have created the mind that I have (such as it is).  I'm thankful for all the books I have that I have not yet read; I look forward to the creativity many of them will inspire.  I'm thankful that I have talents and hobbies outside of my job; they have saved me from the frustration that others in my profession far better than me have been burned out from.  I'm thankful for the ones I have inspired and who have inspired me.  I am thankful for the ones in my life who have tried to derail me, for they have taught me much.  I am thankful for those who have taught me; some of them have given me the impetus to begin and enjoy my current profession.  I am thankful for the bad ones, for they have done the same.  I am thankful for those who have taught me what not to do, whether they tried to or not.  I am thankful for my annoyances, for they have grounded me.  I am thankful for those who have gone through much on my behalf.  I am thankful for those who have raised me; some have no one.  I am thankful that I am now thankful.