I was skimming through various news feeds this morning and came across a headline indicating that obesity in middle age has the affect of aging your brain more quickly, thus increasing your risk of Alzheimer's. The article it linked to was barely a paragraph, so I did a little googling and came up with this. While I should probably be concerned, I'm having a hard time taking seriously an article that cannot get "to, too, two" usage correct twice in the same sentence (and the headline, no less!).
If you follow dooce, you will know that she recently started a 21-day cleanse. Following her blog and her twitter, it sounds like it is doing good things for her, and the way she feels, and her energy levels (energy? what's that like?). Intrigued, I checked out the book she was using as her guide, Quantum Wellness. "A Practical and Spiritual Guide to Health and Wellness".
Mmmkay.
Maybe it's because I went to Christian school for junior high and was obliged to go to mass once a week (at least) for two years, but I just have a problem with someone assuming they can dictate my spirituality, even if it is just the practice of it and not the nature of it.
Add to that the program's blessing by Oprah (who may be many things, but a health guru, in my opinion, is not one of them), and, to me, this sounds more and more like the next quack diet.
I've seen a lot of information, in passing, on various cleansing diets, mostly good. I imagine it probably would be good for me, especially considering the crap I load into my body.
This program, however, I don't think would be a good fit.
In Other News:
MonkeyDo has been feverishly creating comics this weekend. She's very excited about her little comic. I haven't actually looked at it, yet, even though she gave me the first set. I'm thinking that maybe it would be fun to have a family project and create a "'zine" to mail out to friends and family.
The Damn Volvo:
I had a talk with dad last night, and he brought up some very good points about the Volvo. Not the least of which is that probably the reason we have so much trouble getting her back on the road when something goes wrong is because we're not taking her to a Volvo mechanic. He suggested that the issue may be as simple as our mechanic's inexperience with Volvo. He has also offered to pay for the diagnostic to find out what the heck is really going on with her (thanks, dad!).
When SweetPea was making the calls a couple of weeks ago to Volvo mechanics, one suggested what he thought might be the issue. He said that he saw that problem all the time in Volvos of similar mileage. Everyone else she talked to just quoted her for a diagnostic.
Personally, I've always preferred mechanics who can feel a problem out just by what you're telling them, especially if it is a fairly common problem. I know that it's not always that easy, but I guess it makes me feel more like I can take her in, tell the mechanic that "she's just not riding right" and he's not going to go "riiiight" and assume I'm overreacting.
Because I'm sure y'all have heard about my particular brand of vehicular hypochondria. And, also, about how I'm infrequently wrong.
Maybe it is time for a new mechanic, all the way around.
Up for Today:
The magic of family. We've been borrowing SweetPea's mom's car. Which means SweetPea has been doing the driving for both families. Today, we are taking SweetPea's mom out to SweetPea's grandpa's house in El Dorado Hills so that mom can pick up grandpa's van.
So mom will be borrowing grandpa's van while we're borrowing her car.
Heh.
Next Weekend:
Pride weekend in San Francisco. I have never been to the Pride Parade, but have been to Dyke March a couple of times. Huh. And, now that I'm thinking on it, every time I've stayed the night at a friend's house in Antioch. A friend I lost contact with (more than less voluntarily) a couple of years ago. Every time, we went to bed Saturday with the intention of "discussing" heading back into The City on Sunday for the parade. And every time waking up Sunday feeling like "oh, hell no" we're not doing that.
I have no idea what's going on for next weekend, but I do know a group of recently dejected dykes who could probably use some eye candy. Not to mention snubbing their collectively cute noses at a particularly underhanded woman who everyone considered a friend.
Ooh, ooh! Can I get more vague?
For bonus points: Neighbor was having a discussion with one of them and mentioned that "those two down the street" (meaning us) had pegged the ex-friend for what she was the very first time we met her.
Score!
I told y'all our bullshit detectors were way strong.
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Monday, November 26, 2007
Thankful for gratitude
I read this fabulous post this morning when I really should have been getting ready for work. I pulled up a blank entry and thought of the question "what inspires your gratitude?" I jotted down the first three things that came to my mind and clicked "save now" before heading out the door.
Faith
Hope
Love
What sustains and nourishes my soul?
Uh. Yeah. Faith. Hope. Love.
I have faith. Faith in myself, faith in us. Faith in providence and serendipity and karma. I have faith in my kids even though they don't yet understand that. I don't have the faith that so many understand it as. I don't go to church or pray to God or read a book. I feel it in my soul. I feel it around me. I feel it in my gut and in my heart when times get tough that we'll get through, that we are strong enough, that everything is going to work out.
I hope. I hope for better days. I hope for peaceful, quiet nights. I hope that good things are coming and that I'll know the right door when I see it. Some days I hope that there really is enough gas to get the car all the way home without incident. Some days, when things are bad, I put in my earphones, I tune out a little bit, and I climb into my hope and hang out. I have faith that if I hope long enough and hard enough – and follow through with that much work – then my hope will become my "is".
Love. Who can survive without love? Faith and hope and love are all three colors of a tapestry. Woven together, individual, but vital to the whole. Love is a part of faith and hope, just as faith and hope are a part of love.
I am deeply grateful for all three. And for the reminder.
Sunday, September 02, 2007
On faith and time
A couple of years ago, SweetPea's doctor put her on a certain medication. I forget whether they were trying to control her ADD or her depression or what. The medication was an anti-seizure medication that had also started being given to alcoholics to help them stay off the sauce.
After a couple of days on the meds, I can tell you why they did that.
SweetPea was drunk. 24/7.
Now, SweetPea has never “drank” in her life. That's just the way she is. But she was acting just like a drunk person. I'm not sure how that was helping her ADD or depression, but there it was.
One afternoon, I was on the phone with her. The kids were at their dad's, so that meant SweetPea was home alone and, therefore, naked. I had to put her on hold so that I could answer the other line, and when I got back on the phone, I could hear her in the background saying “I'm coming! I'll be right back!” She got back on the phone and told me she had gone and gotten the mail.
Now. Let me pause for a moment to explain our mail. We have a locking mailbox next to our door. It's not on the side where the door opens, it's on the side where the hinges are. So, to get to the box, you open the door up, step out, and go around to the other side of the door.
Remember the part about SweetPea being naked because she was home alone?
Remember, also, the part about SweetPea acting like a drunk person?
I think I'll leave you to do the math on that one.
Anyway, that night I took the meds and the truck keys. I told her she wasn't driving until she was “sober”, and she was sure as hell not taking those meds again. In case you're interested, she had been on the meds about two and a half weeks by that point, and it took almost a full week for the effects to totally wear off.
The next day I went back to work. Because, you know, that's what I do. At some point during the day, there was a knock at the door. SweetPea could see through the security door that there was a lady standing there with a satchel.
SweetPea was still “drunk” and still home alone. She saw this woman's satchel and promptly thought that Hey! Here was a mail person with a package! A package for SweetPea! In her excitement, SweetPea ran to the door and flung it open.
You remember the drunk, right? And, also, the naked? Right.
The rather shocked young woman was not, as it turns out, a mail person with a package. Rather, she was one of those young people who go around delivering The Watchtower where it's least desired. Shocked as she was by the large, naked lesbian standing in front of her, she did manage to stumble on for a few minutes before thrusting some Watchtowers at SweetPea and running for dear life.
It took a year for the Jehovah's Witnesses to come back. It was the same woman. She brought reinforcements.
SweetPea has a definite issue with the Jehovah's Witnesses that do this sort of thing. She has a problem with anyone who tries to “thrust” their religion in her face. I understand where she's coming from, and I agree. If they come to my door, I will either not answer, or politely decline. This is my home. My home where the white light and the spirits live.
Recently, however, they've started prowling the parking lots of WalMart. They've got a good little system working. They come talk to you while you're loading your groceries. Share some scripture and a magazine, have a little chat. The first one that got me invited me to church. I've been nabbed twice now, and neither has taken more of my time than it's taken to load up my groceries. They've both been very nice, and not pushy.
Now, I will say that it kind of irritates me because I feel a little trapped. I wonder if WalMart is allowing this or just doesn't know. But I feel trapped because the only way to get out of it to be unconscionably rude.
Having said that, I want to clarify that I, so far, have not minded the little interactions. They've both been very nice, as I said, and not pushy. They don't ask what religion I believe (HA!), nor do they really push to get me to come over to theirs. They share information that they feel is important. They are doing a task that their faith deems important and vital.
I have no problem with that. Also, I have no problem being on the receiving end of that.
SweetPea thinks I'm knackered for putting up with that and for accepting their Watchtowers. She actually went so far as to say that she questioned my faith because of it.
Personally, I don't see it as being against my faith. It costs me nothing to listen to them. In this case, not even time because they are not extending my stay any longer than it would have been. They are polite and caring and genuinely want the best (as they see it) for me.
SweetPea says that, if they knew, they wouldn't be as accepting of me. They wouldn't want me in their church without trying to change me. And that's true. And I understand that. So why, she says, listen to them? Why be polite and accept their magazines and hear their scripture?
Why, I ask, sink to their level?
I would not go to their church because that is not my path, it is not my faith. Does that hinder me from allowing these individuals to do the job they feel was set for them? No, it does not.
If they knew I am a lesbian and my faith is a heathen faith, they would try to save my blasphemous soul, no doubt. They would likely consider that I would not be worthy of “heaven”.
Because they would surely judge me, does that mean I should judge them in kind?
I don't believe it does. I also don't believe that allowing a person the service of their faith is something that is unacceptable to my faith.
Listening to them for a few moments is not going to change who I am or how I believe. I am who I am and I am strong in my faith. They are not taking any more time than I have to give. Listening to them allows them to fulfill their duties, as they see it.
So what harm does it do?
(plus, I'm generally totally not interested in arguing or debating with them. I don't feel the need to convert souls. Also, you can't convert the faithful. Just ask the Catholics)
After a couple of days on the meds, I can tell you why they did that.
SweetPea was drunk. 24/7.
Now, SweetPea has never “drank” in her life. That's just the way she is. But she was acting just like a drunk person. I'm not sure how that was helping her ADD or depression, but there it was.
One afternoon, I was on the phone with her. The kids were at their dad's, so that meant SweetPea was home alone and, therefore, naked. I had to put her on hold so that I could answer the other line, and when I got back on the phone, I could hear her in the background saying “I'm coming! I'll be right back!” She got back on the phone and told me she had gone and gotten the mail.
Now. Let me pause for a moment to explain our mail. We have a locking mailbox next to our door. It's not on the side where the door opens, it's on the side where the hinges are. So, to get to the box, you open the door up, step out, and go around to the other side of the door.
Remember the part about SweetPea being naked because she was home alone?
Remember, also, the part about SweetPea acting like a drunk person?
I think I'll leave you to do the math on that one.
Anyway, that night I took the meds and the truck keys. I told her she wasn't driving until she was “sober”, and she was sure as hell not taking those meds again. In case you're interested, she had been on the meds about two and a half weeks by that point, and it took almost a full week for the effects to totally wear off.
The next day I went back to work. Because, you know, that's what I do. At some point during the day, there was a knock at the door. SweetPea could see through the security door that there was a lady standing there with a satchel.
SweetPea was still “drunk” and still home alone. She saw this woman's satchel and promptly thought that Hey! Here was a mail person with a package! A package for SweetPea! In her excitement, SweetPea ran to the door and flung it open.
You remember the drunk, right? And, also, the naked? Right.
The rather shocked young woman was not, as it turns out, a mail person with a package. Rather, she was one of those young people who go around delivering The Watchtower where it's least desired. Shocked as she was by the large, naked lesbian standing in front of her, she did manage to stumble on for a few minutes before thrusting some Watchtowers at SweetPea and running for dear life.
It took a year for the Jehovah's Witnesses to come back. It was the same woman. She brought reinforcements.
SweetPea has a definite issue with the Jehovah's Witnesses that do this sort of thing. She has a problem with anyone who tries to “thrust” their religion in her face. I understand where she's coming from, and I agree. If they come to my door, I will either not answer, or politely decline. This is my home. My home where the white light and the spirits live.
Recently, however, they've started prowling the parking lots of WalMart. They've got a good little system working. They come talk to you while you're loading your groceries. Share some scripture and a magazine, have a little chat. The first one that got me invited me to church. I've been nabbed twice now, and neither has taken more of my time than it's taken to load up my groceries. They've both been very nice, and not pushy.
Now, I will say that it kind of irritates me because I feel a little trapped. I wonder if WalMart is allowing this or just doesn't know. But I feel trapped because the only way to get out of it to be unconscionably rude.
Having said that, I want to clarify that I, so far, have not minded the little interactions. They've both been very nice, as I said, and not pushy. They don't ask what religion I believe (HA!), nor do they really push to get me to come over to theirs. They share information that they feel is important. They are doing a task that their faith deems important and vital.
I have no problem with that. Also, I have no problem being on the receiving end of that.
SweetPea thinks I'm knackered for putting up with that and for accepting their Watchtowers. She actually went so far as to say that she questioned my faith because of it.
Personally, I don't see it as being against my faith. It costs me nothing to listen to them. In this case, not even time because they are not extending my stay any longer than it would have been. They are polite and caring and genuinely want the best (as they see it) for me.
SweetPea says that, if they knew, they wouldn't be as accepting of me. They wouldn't want me in their church without trying to change me. And that's true. And I understand that. So why, she says, listen to them? Why be polite and accept their magazines and hear their scripture?
Why, I ask, sink to their level?
I would not go to their church because that is not my path, it is not my faith. Does that hinder me from allowing these individuals to do the job they feel was set for them? No, it does not.
If they knew I am a lesbian and my faith is a heathen faith, they would try to save my blasphemous soul, no doubt. They would likely consider that I would not be worthy of “heaven”.
Because they would surely judge me, does that mean I should judge them in kind?
I don't believe it does. I also don't believe that allowing a person the service of their faith is something that is unacceptable to my faith.
Listening to them for a few moments is not going to change who I am or how I believe. I am who I am and I am strong in my faith. They are not taking any more time than I have to give. Listening to them allows them to fulfill their duties, as they see it.
So what harm does it do?
(plus, I'm generally totally not interested in arguing or debating with them. I don't feel the need to convert souls. Also, you can't convert the faithful. Just ask the Catholics)
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