Wednesday, March 10, 2010

from my random brain...

there's lots going on, of course, it being Lent and all that. so here's my pensieve moment for the week:

* if you are walking your dark colored dog at night on a (busy!) street with no sidewalks, you should not wear all black. And if you do, don't get angry at drivers who have to swerve when they finally see you.

* it's a good idea to start laundry several hours BEFORE you need clean clothes.

* even though I've seen the whole series a bazillion times, Vicar of Dibley = still funny.

* I get easily upset by inanimate objects--like when my Wii Fit balance board doesn't count all my steps when I'm doing step-aerobics, I get mad at the board. THEN I checked the battery status and found it flashing red and empty...gee....

* eating oatmeal every day for breakfast sounds like such a simple and good thing to do, but after 2 weeks I'm both oatmealed out AND really need to wash all my microwave safe bowls...so I'm eating some kind of whole-foods-brand cheerios instead. Oatmeal will come back next week, I promise.

* I love sleeping in. A Lot. My cats, not so much.

* I can't wait for all the snow to be gone, because that probably means sunny days are coming soon, right? RIGHT???????

* I need dressyish sandalish shoes to wear to two weddings in the next 5 weeks. I can't bring myself to wear white shoes (plus the dress I hope to fit into by then is plum colored) so I guess I'll get black, even though both weddings are in the daytime.

* How many hours of Wii Fit do I have to play to fit into the plum dress?????? And are there that many hours in 5 weeks?? Or 2? (first wedding is March 27...)

* When Washington Mutual left my county 2 months after I arrived, I never closed my account there. Now they're Chase and I got a notice saying that today is the last day to claim my account or else they're going to send my $24 back to the FDIC. I could probably use that $24, and maybe having an account at another bank would be good for my saving plans, or taxes, or something. Guess I'd better call.

* I love to drink tea in the morning.

* At Whole Foods last week I got two different kinds of vegan marshmallows (no gelatin, yay!)--small ones for hot chocolate and bigger ones (sweet and sara) for other things. I can't explain why, but nighttime hot chocolate is So.Much.Better with marshmallows.

* the nighttime hot chocolate may explain the difficulty with using Wii Fit to get down to the dress's size. But I'm still going to drink it, so there. It's winter--there have to be SOME ways to deal with that.

* I've read two books in the past two days. Both were good in different ways. 29 Gifts was uplifting and inspiring and also gave me an idea for church. Including People With Disabilities In Faith Communities was practical and helpful as we think about making not only our building but our community more inclusive.

* I'm still annoyed by Glenn Beck's various comments of stupidness, and also noticing my own tendency to proof-text when it comes to things like arguing FOR social and economic justice or whatever other ridiculous thing he's talking about. The most relevant, though, I think, is this: "show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith." Thanks James 2.18.

* I have to go feed a friend's dog now...he's very cute but I don't think he'll be excited by the 10am breakfast. :-)

Monday, March 01, 2010

hunger

I'm not sure many of us (I mean people who read this blog, or people I interact with most days) really know what Hunger feels like. We know what it's like to want to eat, we know what it feels like to skip a meal, but Hunger (with a capital H)--the kind that is a statistic, the kind where there's no food to eat and no idea where the next food will come from, the kind that's painful--is not part of most of our everyday experiences.

The reason I'm thinking about this is, of course, that I've been sick and so have eaten basically nothing for two-and-a-half days now. And I've been trying to figure out, through that whole time, if I'm hungry or if my stomach is still upset--even the slightest hunger pangs are easily confused with other signals that actually mean "DON'T EAT!!" It's amazing to me how quickly I have forgotten, or how easily I mix up, a message from my own body that I feel every day.

Which probably means I don't really feel it every day--I get a pang and, like most people I know, I eat something. It may not be the healthiest something, or the thing my body actually needs to function well. But something with calories goes into my stomach so the feeling will go away. (I confess that often, especially when I'm sitting in my office, chocolate fulfills this task nicely.) But now, when I need to be able to distinguish the signals from one another, I'm not sure which is which. Maybe it's time to listen to my body a little more carefully before just answering the need with a want. This is what the 30 Hour Famine is all about, too, of course--giving us a taste of hunger (if you will) and helping us think about where and when and what we eat and why...and how that affects others, and how others can't just pop a piece of chocolate in their mouths whenever they have the slightest twinge. (the RCLPC 30 Hour Famine isn't until May, but I've just had my own personal 30 hour famine here and, as uncomfortable and frustrating and icky-feeling as it has been, it might have been good for me.)

Having said all of that: I think I'm actually hungry, for actual food, so I'm going to go find some real food and see how that goes this time!