Contemplation

Do not be too quick to assume your enemy is a savage just because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy because he thinks you are a savage. Or perhaps he is afraid of you because he feels that you are afraid of him. And perhaps if he believed you were capable of loving him he would no longer be your enemy.

Do not be too quick to assume that your enemy is an enemy of God because he is your enemy. Perhaps he is your enemy precisely because he can find nothing in you that gives glory to God. Perhaps he fears you because he can find nothing in you of God's love and God's kindness and God's patience and mercy and understanding of the weaknesses of men.

Do not be too quick to condemn the man who no longer believes in God, for it is perhaps your own coldness and avarice, your mediocrity and materialiam, your sensuality and selfishness that have killed his faith.

--Father Thomas Merton

I'm Going To LA!

But not for another month.

My dearest friend, Trent, happens to be a celebrity blogger. Of course I knew him way back when blogs didn't even exist. In fact, his first online journal was on easyjournal.com, where you had to copy and paste from Word. But somehow he went from teaching at a swanky private school in a swanky Detroit suburb to giving Spears/Federline soundbites on CNN and weighing in on E! celebrity news shows.

His blog gets thousands of hits everyday and is sometimes even featured in the Post and the New York Times. Nicole Richie recognized him standing in line for the movies. He's famous, I'm telling you, and I knew him first and he's flying me out to LA next month!!!!

Paraphrased from my new favorite comedienne

I sometimes wish I had a degenerative disease. I already feel achy and tired all the time, but if I were actually diagnosed with something, I would feel exactly the same yet be described as courageous. I could roll out of bed at noon and people would say, "She insisted on getting up!"

Saturday Morning Cat-Nap

Telling

On the metro this morning a guy and a girl board together. At least I think they're together: despite the basically empty train car, they choose to sit together. They don't, however, talk, touch, or do anything to indicate that they are more than brother and sister. At their stop, he rises first, giving me a chance to see what she's reading: a self-help book called The Emotionally Available Man.

I dreamt last night that the metro went to India! So I took the train through snowy mountains and ended up at an underground lake broken up by caves. It was well lit and the water was very clear. Gray whales were just about to begin leaving offerings for the resident blue whale, and the person I was with showed me how to grab onto the fin and hitch a ride with the gray whale to the blue whale, streaking through the water.

Dream

A few nights ago I dreamt that I was trying to deliver a package for a man, but he wouldn't let me. We were in the car, he was driving, and he kept doing things to delay the delivery, like changing the contents of the package. Or we would pull up to the house and I was supposed to jump out and leave the package on the front porch, but he wouldn't stop all the way, just keep driving really slowly so I couldn't get out. Finally I got really frustrated and tried to jump out of the car to deliver the package but at the last second he shouted "No!" and grabbed a handful of my hair and I was like, "Okay, fine, I won't deliver it yet."

Gone and Back Again

Just had a nice long weekend in Michigan. An indulgent massage, French cafes, a pretty good film, family, presents (!), sleeping in, coffee with old friends.

It's nice to come home to two little creatures who are happy to see me, although I think it took them a few minutes to realize who I was!

I feel well-rested and ready for the week. Or, at least, ready for tomorrow.

Repetition-Compulsion

For the first time in my life I own a scale. I do not know if I like it. I can see how a person can become obsessed with weighing himself.

Sad

I've always prayed that my path be illuminated; I've never prayed that traversing it be easy.

Resolutions

1. Elevate my life to meet my tastes. This means upgrading a few choice items of furniture; purchasing clothing more mindfully and not sacrificing style for cost; revising my grocery list to reflect a physically and emotionally healthy lifestyle.

2. Continue contemplation of the classics. Devote at least six hours per week to the study of ancient Greek.

3. Rekindle my love of Irish music. Play whistle, bouzouki, or banjo at least two hours per week at home, alone.

4. Create and complete a mature reading list. Beginning with The Brothers Karamazov and continuing with classics both traditional and contemporary.

Who Has the Day Off Tomorrow??

I do! I do! I have to work on Friday but I anticipate a mellow work day going into the New Year's weekend.

That means I can go to the session tonight and have some beer! Woot!

And then on Friday evening Rob and I are driving to Charlottesville to have dinner with my dearest friend and muse, a person I haven't seen in years and miss terribly. It should be fun. I'm craving lamb.

Incidentally, and speaking of craving, Rob has a blog. He's a great writer. You'll be salivating.

The Gift of Gifts

This is a time for cultivating the inner life. I love the coming of the New Year - quiet resolutions bring hope for strength of character and spiritual growth.

Spending a quiet morning wrapping gifts. Looking forward to an elegant dinner tonight with friends and loved ones.

Poor Rob!

Thousands of people, including my dearest, are stranded in the Denver airport. Last night was Rob's second night sleeping on the floor.

Pushing On

Today I accidentally left the house for Sligo Creek Park without my watch.

I became accustomed to always running with my watch during marathon training season. That was how I kept track of my minutes-per-mile (especially important for analyzing pace during 15+ mile runs), water breaks, and cool down. When I ran my 14-mile training run - a personal distance record - in the Catskill Mountains, my training coach encouraged me by musing that my watch will be my coach for that run, and it was; it reminded me when to stop for water, when to cool the pace, how far I could expect to my turn-back point.

So even though I was only going for an easy three today, my bare wrist incited a bit of anxiety, and honestly, I didn't feel much at the top of my game. Despite the cool, sunny weather and light breeze, despite it being nice to just run, I couldn't find my stride.

Rob you would be proud

I actually cooked dinner tonight! And by "cooked dinner" I do not mean brewed tea and boiled edamame. I actually made a sauce from olive oil, butter, garlic, shallot, and red wine and poured it over whole wheat angel hair pasta topped with sauteed baby portobella mushrooms and grilled filet mignon.

I've seen Rob make that sauce a million thousand times, so I figured I ought to be able to imitate. And my god, was it scrumptious.

I also have a new coffee table. It will look better once I replace a few other pieces of furniture. Right now it looks like a pearl among swine, for lack of a better analogy.

Blonde Moment

So, ever since I moved into this apartment in June, I've been sad because the middle window in my pretty solarium wouldn't open.

A moment ago, while reading in bed, I had an idea. I got out of bed, walked over to the window, unlocked it, and pushed it open.

Heh.

Mom, you would be proud.

Tonight I broke free from my recent pattern and watched an interesting, suspenseful, and non-traumatic film, and it was great!
Aside from some major liberties taken with the plot (which can only be expected), Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train was fabulous. I'm glad I was able to find this photo, it's a great scene: When Bruno kills Miriam, the viewer watches in the reflection of her glasses, which have fallen to the ground in the struggle. I read the book over the summer as part of my breezing through every book I could find by one of my now-favorite authors, Patricia Highsmith.

So I've proved it to myself - I don't have to be left in a quivering ball to have seen a challenging, intruiging, and mysterious film.

Here's to Friday night, and a great weekend ahead!

Triple Splurge

Wow. I really can't believe myself the last two days. I am not a person known for splurging, but I really outdid myself!

First, I went bra shopping. (Sorry if this is too much information for Lorna's sensitive eyes). But seriously. It turns out I have been wearing the wrong size all my life. And let me just tell you, bras really break the bank. $50 for one!? I normally don't spend that much on a normal item of clothing. Or at the grocery store. Which brings me to the second splurge.....

One hundred and forty-five dollars at Giant! Woot! I restocked my wine rack, bought lots of greens and cheese and dried fruit and nuts and some toys for my little kittens (they're scampering around my chair as I type).

And then... a massage. Which, I've decided, will be a monthly indulgence. Fortunately, my masseur is trained in lots of cool Indian/yoga techniques, but that unfortunately means that he gets to charge an arm and a leg. Ah well... those arms and legs feel really, really (really) good afterward!

Triple Splurge

Wow. I really can't believe myself the last two days. I am not a person known for splurging, but I really outdid myself!

First, I went bra shopping. (Sorry if this is too much information for Lorna's sensitive eyes). But seriously. It turns out I have been wearing the wrong size all my life. And let me just tell you, bras really break the bank. $50 for one!? I normally don't spend that much on a normal item of clothing. Or at the grocery store. Which brings me to the second splurge.....

One hundred and forty-five dollars at Giant! Woot! I restocked my wine rack, bought lots of greens and cheese and dried fruit and nuts and some toys for my little kittens (they're scampering around my chair as I type).

And then... a massage. Which, I've decided, will be a monthly indulgence. Fortunately, my masseur is trained in lots of cool Indian/yoga techniques, but that unfortunately means that he gets to charge an arm and a leg. Ah well... those arms and legs feel really, really (really) good afterward!

Fight For Your Right

Last night my father and brother and I went to see the Washington Capitols play the Buffalo Sabres at the Verizon Center. It was a good game. The caps scored two goals in the first two minutes of the game. The Sabres got one in a few minutes later but the Caps answered in about twenty seconds. Things evened out from there, with the Caps coming out on top, 6-3.

I love watching professional hockey games live. The match-up really doesn't matter. It's just the vibe of the thing.

Which brings me to one of my fondest memories. Now that I think about it, I'm not entirely sure if these two things actually happened on the same night, but I think they did:

I was staying home alone while my mom went on a business trip. I came home from school the day that she was supposed to come home to find a note from her boyfriend asking me if I wanted to go to the Red Wings game that night. This was right in the middle of the really intense awful rivalry between Detroit and Colorado after Claude Lemieux pushed Kris Draper into the boards face first and he had to have total facial reconstruction. The next game between the two teams was an all-out brawl from start to finish. Even the goalies couldn't stay in their nets.

Well, the game that I had just been invited to was the game between the two teams AFTER the brawl, which was after the incident with Lemieux and Draper. So let's just say it was going to be a doozie.

Jim picked me up and we went to the game. I remember high-fiving him after every Red Wings goal, but I can't remember anything else about the game, or who won. Afterwards we picked my mom up at the airport. She didn't know I was coming. I think she was equally as glad to see me as she was to see Jim and I spending time together.

Now, onto a lazy Sunday, morning, seeing my dad back to Michigan, and having dinner with one of my dearest friends, the oft-weblinked, oft-blogged about journalist and author extraordinare, man of culture and reknown....