Cello_geek's Xanga

Thursday, November 05, 2009

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 21:24:14 GMT

Yes I am still around -usually for 5 minutes on Facebook. Otherwise, busy, busy.

Tonight I am playing cello with the Oak Park Orchestra on their concert. My private lesson teacher is their director, and he invited me to join them. I went to their two rehearsals this week (thanks to the understanding of the teacher I work with, who let me be gone for 2 hours Tuesday and today).

It's been a busy fall - as usual. I hope everyone is enjoying the season. Thanksgiving will be here before we know it!

Saturday, October 03, 2009

Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:19:39 GMT

It seems all I can do to check my email once a day, and maybe Facebook. Writing xanga entries seems to have fallen way down the priority list. I can't expect much of an exchange of ideas with fellow xangans when I'm never out here!

A couple of updates: My husband has a conference in Columbia, MO, and I am going with him so I can visit with our two children, both students there at the University of Missouri. I am looking forward to it - a lot, especially having an early birthday celebration for our son Patrick, who turns 22 on the 7th. When I first started writing on Xanga, he was still in high school, and rather uncomfortable with my presence out here. Now I'm a friend on Facebook. Times have changed.

Our daughter has supposedly already had Swine Flu (according to her doctor there, though no test was done). She had a rough time for awhile, developing bronchitis and a sinus infection, but is finally on the mend. I got my shot for the seasonal flu - no option yet to get the N1H1 vaccine yet.

Have finished a couple of books: The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter, and Gilead by Marilynne Robinson. I liked both of them very much. Though I didn't purposely read them back to back, there was a certain symmetry to doing do. The first book was written from a 5 or 6 year old child's point of view, observing his life with his grandparents after his parents died. The second book is from an aged father's viewpoint, who is writing to his 6 year old son, trying to tell him about himself and to tell him some things he wants to pass along, because he knows he will die before the son is much older. It was like two different vantage points on the same story - sort of.

I recommend both books. They aren't long, but they are thought-provoking.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:44:17 GMT

I'm not surprised no one reads my posts. I have become notoriously erratic.

Read something in Time magazine that gave me pause. What will happen to my online accounts after I die? Xanga, and Facebook, and my email, which gets more than its fair share of junk mail. I suspect my techie husband would clean it all up and close things down, but what if he dies first? Is that going to be part of our wills now? Instructions on how to handle that part of our "estate"? Weird.

Just finished reading Riven by Jerry Jenkins, who has said he considers this book his masterpiece. I don't know if it is a masterpiece, but the last 25 pages had me crying, which is my litmus test for a good book or movie. Isn't that ridiculous? If it makes me cry, it at least gets a thumb's up, because that shows it connected with me. I'm such a girl....

But I wasn't always that way. Back in the 70s the tearjerker of all time was Love Story. I was 14 when I saw it, and stared with disdain at the sobbing girls clutching a box of tissues. For me the waterworks began after I had fallen in love seriously. It's like that cracked my heart forever open. Having children only intensified the effect.

When did you start crying at movies/commercials/books?

Sunday, August 23, 2009

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:15:12 GMT

I am in West Union, Iowa, here to visit my in-laws for their 60th wedding anniversary. I have not seen them in several years because my back issues have made the 7 hour trip a hurdle. We head back to KC today.

I miss going to church, and if I had a car of my own up here, I'd have tracked down a church to attend. Instead, I've tried to keep my nose in my bible.

I have a Facebook page that I check maybe once a day, if that often. When I created it, I used my legal name, which does not include my maiden name. It occurred to me that if someone from my long ago past were looking for me, my married name might be unknown. So I added an alternate name using my maiden name. I hope that works, though when I did a search on my "old" name, there were over 500 results. Someone will have to look hard!

I am surprised that more and more of my age peers (50 somethings) are getting on Facebook. I doubt most of us use it like our kids do, but it will be interesting to see if we eventaully get sucked in. .Five or six years ago I could not fathom text messaging. If you needed to communicate something, why no just call? But now that I've used it for a few years, I am a fan. I can have multiple conversations going and still continue to do other things. I can casually check in with someone without getting into a 30 minute chat. And best of all, I get texts from my kids about things I'd never hear about if they had to call or write! Maybe I will become a fan of Facebook too?

Friday, August 14, 2009

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:47:00 GMT

A question for those of you who work in a non-Christian environment. How do you handle it when the language or the topics get too rough or too sexual or too gossipy?

At our district wide staff meeting they presented some interesting info on how our students are "digital natives", and how that affects their learning. A couple of reading related tidbits: 1. They scan a page differently, practically ignoring the bottom and the right-hand side of the page. 2. When reading, they focus more on certain colors (blood red, orange, neon green, pink - depending on gender), while black is virtually ignored (so much for a normally printed, hardcopy book).

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 02:24:45 GMT

Two days ago the Kansas City Star ran an article featuring letters written by the man (Scott Roeder) accused of murdering Dr. Tiller. The letters had been written to his son and kept by his ex-wife across many years. Apparently the ex had only read portions of them to her son, but he is now 22 (I think) and has read them fully. They both agreed to release them to the media.

The article had quotes from the letters, and those quotes were probably selected with an eye to showing how crazy Roeder is (was?). Oddly, some of the quotes express sentiments I would not take exception to such as wishing and hoping his son accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord of his life. Roeder also said he felt God's calling takes precedence over all. Isn't that how all Christians should order their lives?

And yet here is a man who murdered someone. I don't think he is denying it - he is proud of it. I don't think that is what God wanted.

As believers we are to judge fellow believers - we are to discern and if necessary discipline each other. I think about people I know who are passionate for Christ, and wonder would I discern that they were over the line like Roeder was? Obviously, if he was talking about killing someone, I would, but what if all I heard was the passion?

I also wonder how such an article came across to the general public. Were people thinking, "Those whacko Christians," and shaking their heads?

My Bible study is reading Titus, and it emphasizes how our deeds are to be a reflection of who we are: children of God. Good deeds don't earn us salvation, but they honor and please God, and they are the fruit of the Holy Spirit. If we were overflowing with good deeds, what would people think of when they heard "Christian"?

Art and Christianity

Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:46:59 GMT

My 21 year old son is studying the relationship between art and Christianity. It is an interesting subject. Initially I think he felt that perhaps mainline Protestant Christianity had put a crimp in art - at least in recent times. If you go back in history, the Catholic church and its adherents (various kings and other royalty) were great patrons of the arts. There are incredible works from that era in all disciplines. I am more familiar with the music. Many of the greatest composers before 1800 were supported or commissioned in their work by royalty. Much of the best Baroque music was sacred music meant to be performed in a church setting.

Oddly enough, the message at church on Sunday was about beauty, which I believe ties in quite strongly to art. One of the main points in the message is that something is beautiful only if it is both good and true (truth being defined as God's truth).

I suppose there are folks who would argue that the purpose of art is not necessarily to present beauty (and instead shock and dismay?). But as followers of Jesus Christ, what should the purpose of our art be? I submit that it is to bring glory to God, the Creator of all things, by presenting or adding to the beauty He has already given us.

I am still mulling this over. I want to hear Patrick's conclusions at the end of the summer - that's assuming I will be able to understand them. He has become rather intellectual!

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 02:03:16 GMT

Last spring the book club at the school where I work selected the book Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. I was about 100 pages into the 900 page book when I began to suspect I had something of a bodice-ripper in my hands. But I proceeded on, somewhat intrigued with the plot line. By the end of June I had read all the books in the series (6 books encompassing some 5500+ pages). The next book in the series is due out in September.

I've always been a sucker for a good historical romance, and I proved myself to be true to that inclination once again. I stopped reading romances many years ago - even before I became a believer - simply because I realized that they set up unrealistic expectations within my heart. My poor husband was never going to save me from a pirate or sweep me into some steamy tryst, and feeling resentful because similar things weren't happening was ubfair to him and unhealthy for me. But here I was, thousands of pages deep into that quagmire once again.

Two Sundays ago we had a message on pornography that further convicted me that I really oughtn't be reading such stuff (that's a whole other post). So in the last week I have, instead, plowed through a five book series by Christian author Karen Kingsbury.

Kingsbury's books contain no sex, but have a definite romantic overtone. But instead of feeling like I was setting up unrealistic expectations in the romance department, I decided that her books set up certain expectations in the spiritual department. When her characters are strongly seeking after God, they "hear" Him. When they aren't, they don't. Thus the implication that if you aren't "hearing" the Lord, you must be far from Him. Makes me think of certain branches of Christianity that teach that you should question your salvation if you can't speak in tongues or haven't been "slain in the Spirit". It also makes me think of Mother Teresa, whose biography details how she entered the mission field and endured the absence of the awareness of God's presence for many long years.

I am not accusing Kingsbury of false doctrine. She never, ever says that certain experiences are earmarks of a believer. I'm just pointing out an odd parallel between the two book series - that they both have the potential to set up unrealistic expectations in those vulnerable to such things.

Friday, July 03, 2009

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:59:28 GMT

I had a great day today. I took less ibuprofen for back pain. With the help of hiring the right people, I got some much needed yardwork and landscaping done (3 trees gone, branches pruned, bushes trimmed, beds weeded and mulched). I went with a friend and had my first pedicure. I bought some pretty hanging baskets for my porch. I spent a leisurely hour at Borders.

Being home alone has its pleasures. I've had some strange meals lately as I've grazed through the refrigerator. One day I dipped raw broccoli in hummus, had Fontina on crackers, ate a bowl of blueberries, and ended the meal with several handfuls of dry Froot Loops for dessert. Tonight I made a vegetable soup from a dried soup mix, had a salad and a bowl of cherries. None of these would ever appear on the table for a meal with my husband, including the trip to Chipotle I made this week!

My eating times have become fluid, happening whenever it fits in and I am hungry. This is not the case when I am eating with others.

I don't have to worry if the music on the stereo is too loud/ too raucous/ of unappealing genre for my husband.

I can make a mess, and leave it until I am ready to clean it up.

However, there are downsides too. The biggest being that a shared pleasure is much greater than one experienced alone. Plus I am suddenly aware of how easily a single person could get left alone. I don't have a built-in companion to a movie or a meal or the fireworks. Across the long-term, I am sure I would stagger under the burden of being responsibile for all the upkeep and running of the house and car etc. - especially given my physical limitations due to back pain.

But for now, I am enjoying this brief time of selfishness.

Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:08:17 GMT

At the risk of offending my conservative brothers and sisters, I would like to ask what the point is of vitriolic attacks against President Obama?

When I became a believer almost 12 years ago Clinton was president. Up to that time I had voted primarily Democrat and held moderate to liberal postitions on most issues. My "formative" years as a baby believer occurred while such things as the Monica Lewinsky affair were unfolding. By far the majority of my life as a believer has been under the Bush presidency. I grew tired of the rants and tirades against Bush, and often felt the one ranting was way out in left-field, off the deep end, and ought easily be dismissed because of the shrillness.

Now I sadly read the words of folks who are, I assume, of a conservative bent similar to mine, ranting and raving about how Obama is ruining the country, and I have a similar response. You sound like an idiot. I know the editorial pages are the playground of the extreme, but I have to believe that a point is rather more well-made when presented with logic and calm.

Call me simplistic (or perhaps merely simple), but Bush didn't run the country single-handedly, nor does Obama. The president has power and influence, but he is not a dictator. And certainly, God is sovereign over all.

I'm reading through 2 Kings, and it is clear that God uses bad leaders as well as good.