Bourne Again

Yep, we saw the third Bourne movie Saturday. I really liked it-- almost as much as I liked the first one. I don't think I liked #2 as much, and I'm basing this belief on the fact that I don't really remember it.

So here's my chief complaint about Ultimatum: the entire darned movie was filmed with jiggly cam. I had motion sickness by halfway through the film. I thought about going out into the lobby for some water and non-moving scenery, but I didn't want to miss anything! It took an hour of lying down once I got home to convince my body that we weren't really going anywhere.

Good thing I never saw The Blair Witch Project. The previews for that movie alone were enough to make me ill.

Did you notice the Bejing Olympics are less than a year away?

That has nothing to do with my post. I just wondered if anyone else noticed.

So, Chad and I braved sales tax holiday last weekend to get new stuff. For me, that was a couple pairs of running shoes and a swimsuit. For Chad, it was a lot more complex; people don't give him their old clothes, for some reason, so he has a lot less than me. (I'm not kidding-- I haven't bought new jeans since I was an aim student.)

So he had to have jeans. And shorts. And running shoes. (And I am now praying that the Lord sends us sons who will be short, with small feet, after seeing the prices on men's shoes.) And a shirt. But the upside is, now our friends at church will be spared seeing him in the same awful outfit he was wearing every week. :)

And the crowds weren't too bad, since we went out in the morning. It was actually a pretty fun day, although we were exhausted by the time we gave it up and came home.

Don't Be Alarmed

So the fire alarm went off at work today, so we all jumped up and... No, wait. We didn't jump up. We didn't even move. We all sat there, not bothering to get patients out of the building or anything, until someone came round to tell us that a patient had hit the fire alarm by mistake.

Afterwards the doctor (not Doctor Who) came round to say that in the future, we should really always act as though there is a fire when the alarm goes off.

And finally

One perusing my blog might think that I am quite verbose today, since this is my fourth post! And I would agree, except that I think I am verbose every day. :)

This is more in the nature of my final thought. With school already started for some, and imminent for others, this is the time of year when the thoughts of many turn to new beginnings. Being currently free from the encumbrance of educational calendars, I tend to think about new beginnings once every few weeks, but I have found myself caught up in the prevailing thought patterns lately.

We are drawing nearer to autumn, and everyone knows that Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year follow with alarming rapidity. This year has less than 4 1/2 months left.

So my question is, How can I finish 2007 well? What can I do with my 4 1/2 months to make this a good year?

I will answer those questions. Soon.

Serving

So thanks to Charlie's hard work and dedication, I am able to read the lessons given by the five men who preach in Castlemilk. The place I would be calling home, if not for immigration laws.

So I was reading along a couple of weeks ago and thinking to myself that these gentlemen, even in secondhand written-down form, are still quite distinctive. I think anyone who has heard them could pinpoint which lesson was whose even without Charlie very helpfully telling us. And no sooner did the thought occur to me than I read the first paragraph of Mark's lesson and thought, Oh, yes, definately Mark. :)

The lesson was on serving, but I don't want to blantly plagarise what he said. So instead I'll plagarise James: what good is it to claim to follow Jesus, turn up on a Sunday morning looking well-pressed, wearing one's Sunday smile and all, saying all the nice Sunday words, but never act on that claim otherwise? It's very easy, at 11:00 AM every Sunday, to love one another. How easy is it come 12:01 PM when Sister Slowpoke and Brother Boring want to talk for an hour about this ache or that pain? Or even more so, when said brother and sister ask if you can come with them to move large and heavy things around their house?

In a large congregation such as the one we attend, the opportunities to serve are limitless. However, finding them can be a challenge. I'm not kidding. I spent the first 21 years of my life in small congregations, where everyone knew within 10 minutes if someone had a need. At South Plains, I consider myself lucky if I hear about something early enough to still send a card, because usually the time for physically being there is past.

So, what can I do? This one, fortunately, has a simple solution; keep my eyes and ears open. The opportunities will come if I am looking for them. But if I'm not looking, I may as well stock up on cards and stamps. I'll be needing them.

Friends

The other day Chad and I were talking about friends, and I told him that I don't know how to be a friend. I don't. I've had about 4 friends in my life. I have plenty of pals (for whom I am very grateful), and dozens of acquaintances, but very few friends.



So I shared this at prayer group this morning, to the agreement of the other woman there. Why, we wondered, is it so hard to be a friend? It's our culture, it's our society, it's our time... yada yada yada. Not that those things are in any way untrue, but they are also excuses. What is stopping me from being a friend?

I have my suspicions. If I work it out, I will let you know.

Found

I just finished re-reading Finding Peggy. I couldn't possibly tell you how many times I've read it now. This much I can say for certain: When I bought it from the charity shop, it was like new; now the binding is worn, the corners are curled and the pages in the middle have started falling out.

So the book is a memoir of sorts of Meg's young life in Glasgow. The fact that it was about Glasgow is what interested me in it in the first place, and it has really filled some gaps for me in terms of the culture and life in that city. I wish everyone I know (every Glaswegian, that is) would write a book like it.

Anyway, Meg's favourite aunt (Peggy of the title) died when Meg was 11, very suddenly and tragically. Her childhood and life as she knew it were brought to an abrupt end. The story of how she managed to carry on is an amazing, albeit sad, one. The eventual facing of Peggy's death and Meg's making peace with her past is so very well worth reading.

So I googled Meg Henderson, just to see what I could find. Turns out she's quite a prolific writer; but I already knew that. I think I may try to see what else of hers I can get my hands on.

4 miles!

So we ran 4 miles without stopping today, which is a first for me. (Normally we take one-minute walk breaks at what are becoming increasingly wider intervals; this week, it's every 10 minutes.) We have less than four weeks until our 10K, and if I could get up to running 6 miles without stopping before then, I would be delighted. But I am willing to take walk breaks in the race, if need be.

Manual Labour

Yeah, I did some of that today. Not as much as Chad, though.

A group of about a dozen from church, plus a few others, went to help a woman get her house into order for the home insurance people, who threatened to cancel her policy if she didn't fix a couple of things. Apparently what we did was about a $6000 job if she had to hire someone, so as I told our fearless leader, "It's a good thing she has us!"

Unfortunately, I did not get to use any power tools. But I did get to drive the lawnmower.

The long way round

Okay, we didn't really take the long way round, but an 18-hour drive is going to feel like the long way round no matter what.

I would love to extoll my newly-deceased grandfather's virtues, or regale you with tales of his very lovely funeral service-- but I'm afraid I'm not able to do so at this time. Suffice to say, he was a great man and will be missed by many.

Also, all that great stuff I was going to share about Harry Potter will have to wait for another time.

So instead I am going to warn you about the shortage of McDonald's restaurants. There are signs as you leave various states telling motorists, "Last McDonalds until (insert next state here)." I'm afraid I'm a bit concerned about this now; I can only conclude that state lines are woefully short on fast food. Should we start a petition?

Saying Goodbye

My grandpa died early this morning. We'll be headed to Indiana for the funeral soon. Prayers for a safe journey would be appreciated.