Trick or Treat

you may think it is strange that i can go an entire month with no posts and then i feel the need to write twice in one day. but, today seems to be a day to inspire writing. when i arrived at work this morning, i was reminded that the kids from the day care would be trick-or-treating around the church office this morning. and since i am still arriving at work a little later than desired, there was no time to run to the grocery store. i could here the sounds of their little feet outside my door.

so, i hurriedly started looking around my office for candy i could give away. thankfully, ours is a church office that encourages candy baskets in individual offices, so i was in luck. i had hershey kisses and hershey miniatures still in stock. the kisses have been living in the bottom of my candy jar for about ten months. everyone knows they have been living in there for ten months, so no one will eat them, and they continue to sit there. the miniatures, thankfully, are only about two months old, so no one fingers them in disgust quite yet. now, you may find it a little cruel that i used halloween as my excuse to pawn off last-years candy. but honestly, does chocolate ever go bad? and will those little kids ever know the difference? they aren't old enough to even care. if it makes you feel any better, at least i covered the candy dish when i put the chocolate in the kid's bags so none of my co-workers would look at me with a critical eye and scoff at my old candy.

hey, if i hadn't had my old candy, i would have been digging through the bottom of my purse or my desk drawers for some candy. who wants some cough drops? antacids? stale starlight mints?

Halloween

Today is Halloween, and i completely forgot. It wasn't until i was about to walk out the door that my lovely roommate mentioned this festive holiday that i realized today was the day school children anticipate all year long. so, i went back to my closet and shuffled through my clothes, looking for something appropriate to wear in my church office on halloween. I am wearing a giant Somali dress and it is about the most unflattering article of clothing that i own. it looks like a giant kite has been wrapped (very loosely) around my body. it feels like a mu mu that a big hawaiian woman would wear. i love it. it was a dress given to me by a group of women i taught english to several summers ago.

recently, i have noticed a fashion trend on halloween. i am sure it is a trend that has always been in effect, but i just became sensitive to it. over the past few years, i have attended an annual halloween party at the house of friends. at this party, i've noticed the increasing amount of girls wearing skanky halloween costumes. now, i am a big fan of dressing up. when you have an excuse to throw on some really crazy, fun clothes, go for it! actually, i think i used to be one of those wildly dressed girls who loved a good excuse to wear the sluttiest outfit in her closet and get away with it. there is something liberating about going out in public in clothes you might never wear in front of your parents. a hot costume makes you feel hot and it makes you act hot. it empowers you and makes you bold.

but, for some recent reason , seeing all those girls dressed in their skimpy costumes, i feel an overwhelming urge to dress in the most modest, unattractive clothes i can find. maybe there is something within me that is protesting the superficial excuse to dress like a french maid/genie/bad angel. whatever it is, i sure am glad that i have an excuse to wear a giant nightgown to work today.

and the job is...

from several inquisitive emails, i have deduced that people actually do want to know what i am doing, so here it is. nothing too exciting or worth getting pumped about, just to burst anyone's misconception that i might be about to take my little texas town by storm...

i have been given the opportunity to teach a class this semester. originally, i talked to my "boss" (read: pastor) and we decided that i would take over his bible study this fall. this was perfect because it guaranteed that there would be at least a few people who would come. we would get the devoted congregants who come to anything whenever the church is unlocked. so, i figure, get those folks in to the first bible study and then when they realize it isn't the pastor teaching, they can't leave and will have to return out of politeness, even if it is the "junior minister" who is teaching...

my co-worker (who is in charge of the various classes/programs at our church) informed me that i would not be taking over the pastor's bible study (dang--there goes my guaranteed attendence) but would be starting my own class--and apparantly, i have competition! even though i have been working here for nearly a year, i had no idea we had competing bible studies all at the same time. i guess that means i am going to have to step it up a little if i want anyone to show.

the topic has yet to be determined, but i can promise it will be something thrilling, exciting and within my area of "expertise" which includes all of about three things... so needless to say, it won't be your traditional "bible study" but something more up my postmodern, literary alley... i like to fancy myself a creative thinker and sometimes theologian, but that is just wishful thinking. i am hoping this new challenge will teach me something about responsibility, consistency and the joys of public speaking.

back by great demand

it is nice to know that there are at least three people reading my blog! and those are the only three people i told about this thing, so i guess they are proving themselves to be devoted friends. i haven't had as much time to think about what i wanted to write recently because i have been busy at work. this is a good thing for me! my first job is teaching me a lot about myself. first of all, i do not do well with no pressure. the sooner the deadline and the more important my responsibility, the better and more productive person i become. let me explain...

i have been working at my job for nearly ten months. in this time, i have learned a some valuable lessons. #1. i am not a self-motivated person, like i said i was on previous job applications. #2. if i want to get anything completed, i need a dozen other things pressing down on me.

this week, i had a major breakthrough at work. i finally have a job to do!

if you can imagine, i have spent the majority of the past ten months doing very little. i come in to work at a reasonable time (i tested the "appropriate start time" by a carefully constructed little experiment. the first few weeks, i arrived between 8 and 8:30, as instructed by my boss. i soon realized that i was always the first minister at work and there was nothing to do for the first few hours each day, so i started coming in a little later each day. when i wandered in at 10 am for several days in a row last week, i realized that i had finally reached my limit. one of my coworkers made the "joking" remark--"so, you decided to stumble into work today?" i knew i had pushed my luck too far. now, i am attempting to arrive promptly between 9:15 and 9:30 each day. haven't made it yet, but i keep trying...)

anyway, i wasn't trying to get off on a tangent of my mornings. what i wanted to say was this. for ten months, i have been struggling to find some identity at work with no success. for ten months, i have been the filler or the substitute. and for the first time in my job, i have a real, full-time responsibility! it is too exciting for words, i know!

and so, when i should be buckling down to work on my new job responsibility, i am settling down into a nice day of updating my profile, reading my friends' blogs, and writing my own. i think, if i only had about 4-5 more jobs fall on my plate, i would be the most productive, successful, hard-working person in this place. for now, i will have to settle for the lazy bum who stumbles in two hours after the office opens...

seven deadly sins

since it has been requested by my dear friends that i take this quiz, i will give it my best shot. i don't have a problems with any of the questions, with the exception of seven crushes. i have about ten a day, but i will do my best to limit them, for the sake of decorum... this quiz reminds me of a wonderful little halloween, which is another story for another time. here goes.

seven things to do before i die:
1. become an awesome horseback rider
2. visit all 50 states (i only have about 6 to go)
3. visit every country-- i know this is probably impossible for anyone, except my dad, but i can dream.
4. be a tv reporter (a secret career aspiration i have harbored for a few years now)
5. pursue my PhD
6. live in another country and speak the language fluently (if it is France, I already have a headstart)
7. fall in love (thank you, sheryl crow song, i know it is lame to put that on my list of things to do, but i am completely helpless to do anything else but list it at this point, i think)

seven things i can do:
1. listen
2. be a good friend
3. love
4. read books like there ain't no tomorrow
5. dance with no rhythm to cheer up my friends
6. read maps--thanks dad, for my buddy bear map study.
7. procrastinate and do my best work at the last minute (this seems to be a common theme with several friends--i guess the procrastinators all stick together).

seven things i can't do:
1. before i started working in the "real world" i would have said, "say no," but i am getting pretty good at that...
2. complicated math problems
3. be rude (as hard as i try sometimes...)
4. tolerate rude, manipulative people
5. lie
6. handle roaches
7. grow plants--my pitiful front yard is a testimony to this...

seven things that attract me to the opposite sex:
1. gentle heart
2. confidence without cockiness (i cannot stand arrogance)
3. friendliness and genuineness
4. smile
5. smarts
6. respect (someone i can respect who respects me, too)
7. any bad boy in a band who is tall, dark and mysterious, especially drummers... but really, any musician will do...

seven things i say most:
1. hey girl
2. totally (it is the valley girl in me-- as much as i try to supress her, she still lives. thank my college roommate for that).
3. yall--the joy of being a texan
4. freakin'
5. i can't really think of any more at the moment, but i will add them later if they come to me.

seven celebrity crushes:
1. dave grohl
2. brian rosenworcel (does he count?)
3. conan o'brian (yeah, i am a dork, i know already)
4. carter o. from trading spaces
5. matthew mcconaughey
6. dave matthews (just his beautiful voice)
7. chris o'donnell (my jr. high crush--i will always have a special place in my heart for you)

seven people i want to take this quiz:
1. well, my few friends who actually read this have already done the quiz, so i will just say anyone who reads this has a special invitation from me to take the quiz!

and now, my own personal twist...
seven things you would recommend everyone to read before they die:
1. traveling mercies, anne lamont
2. any short story by flannery o'connor, but i can give you my faves if you are interested.
3. les miserables, victor hugo
4. the cloister walk, kathleen norris
5. just as long as we're together, judy blume (an homage to my younger days)
6. poetry by edna st. vincent millay
7. the bible

a giant floating face

Today is church directory day. Since i work at a church and have no way of slipping through the cracks of this fun church bonding experience, i am getting ready for my sitting here in about an hour. i have been carefully perusing the old directories to get ideas about what to wear (or more commonly, what not to wear). during this hilarious jouney through the old photo albums of my church, big bangs and huge glasses seem to keep making their appearances. i did notice one particular trend that didn't seem to subside with the passing of decades. and that is the giant, floating face. yes, this seems to be the punishment for all the single people in my church. if you show up for your portrait alone, it appears they want to make up for it by giving you a picture with your head about three times bigger than anyone else's head. they tend to crop in on that photo of you to try to block out any dead space around your head. block out any old ghosts you mght have hovering around you...

the key here is: the bigger your family, the smaller your face.

now, some people might enjoy having their glamourous headshot. i, on the other hand, am not looking forward to seeing my rather large face smiling back at me, surrounded by pics of lovely little families. not that i am unhappy to be a young, vivacious, single woman, not at all. :) i am quite enjoying my swingin' single life. but it is little things like this--the larger than life portraits--that do make me miss being a little kid. fighting with my brother and sister for who gets to sit between our parents in the family photos. there is no one to fight with now.... it's all me, baby! just my giant floating face smiling back at ya!

Is this the start?

i think i am catching on to this blogging trend about two years after all my cool friends caught on back when we were in school. never too late to start posting, and maybe this means less people to read the random thoughts i have to say (and less people to think, "doesn't she have anything better to do now that she is in the real world?")

my motivation for beginning this life of blogging is
1. jumpstart my writing career. if i can't write a simple journal entry (for all the world to read--if i can be presumptuous enough to imagine anyone other than my family and close friends would actually open up this bad boy and take a look), then how can i ever get myself into writing gear and presume to think i can actually submit my "real" writing for puplication?
2. find a *productive* way to spend my time at work when i have nothing else to do.
3. call it "theoblogical"--a clever title that was a gift from my good friend and wordsmith "happy cricket." i know it is a little presumptuous to even associate something i might write with theology, but if i have that word in the title, doesn't it seem like a more noble pursuit than just writing my random thoughts online when i have nothing else to do? and perhaps it will inspire me to aspire to loftier posts than the usual drivel i might happen to write about...

so, upon rereading, i notice i have used to word presume or one of its derivations a few too many times. i think that word sums up why i have been hesitent to even start blogging. i hate to presume that anyone would find my little journal interesting enough to read, but i am being presumptuous enough to write it anyway. enjoy!