I CAN SEE! I CAN SEE!!!

I'm also very tired from getting my eyes fried yesterday.

But I can see signs and words and hills and mountains and in the mirror and flowers and my feet and that I need a pedicure and that I left conditioner in my hair trying not to get water in my eyes in the shower and the birds and the television and my hand when I wake up and don't have to look for my glasses after all.

It's really nice.

Going Crazy

Only time for a short one. I'm trying to get out of town shortly. All my bills are paid, the cats fed, my suitcase packed.

I'm trying to make copies of my resume, but this computer won't let me. I'll have to stop by Miles and Becky's before I go.

I'm in rehearsal this weekend, then getting my eyes fixed next week, then moving for the summer. It's all snuck up on me, but I'm prepared already, so I'm not worried.

I've got to go make copies of my work schedule for taxes, and copies of my music for singing next Thursday. I should anticipate that I'll also be asked to sing in church on Sunday, but I think I'll leave that to chance.

I'll talk to you guys probably from California.

In a twist, my new side job has me spending hours typing sentences like this:

Also regionally, vegetation cover is sensitive to the differences between the gravelly fanglomerates of the bajadas and the alluvium of the valley floor.

Western Christianity

I've got a bit of a rant coming, so be warned:

I recently went into a Christian Bookstore. Normally I avoid those places like the plague, as in order to get to anything of value (ie Bibles, good Christian authors, Classics, Reference, perhaps even some music) you have to wade through endless shelves, rows and piles of Christian stuff.

So I went in, looking for an NRSV Bible to pricecheck. My old NIV fell apart in Cambodia (I'm missing all of my reference material, and parts of Revalation - which to me, is not much of loss. I don't like that book much anyway, except in parts. Caused me endless nightmares at a child.) and one of our speakers read from NRSV and I like the translation.

As I walked through trying, first, to located the Bibles (Grievance one: shouldn't that be THE MOST obvious thing in the store? Right up front where one might walk in and steal one because it's so accessible - and more power to them if they did, might be useful to them, in the end) I passed the statues, the plaques, the coffee cups and wall art. The streamers and banners and greeting cards. The glossy self-help books and End times fiction, movies, cds, stickers, pins, pens, bookends, christmas ornaments, placards. And I finally found the Bibles. But not "regular" ones. There were commemorative ones, shortened ones, paraphrased, for Dads, for Grads, for Moms, for Army and Navy men and women.

I'm not a translation snob. There are some I like better than others, and some I don't like at all (The message kills me, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy it for someone who wants a fresh revision or will get lost by all the historical and cultural references). I love that we have some options, and can understand what we're reading better by reading another translation and getting something new out of it. But all of these special editions were superfluous.

I didn't find what I was looking for, and I made a hasty exit before I started to cry - which is my reaction to a lot of Christian crap.

Christian Bookstores are deeply antithetical to the teachings of Christ.

There is nothing wrong with 'Christian Enrichment' per se. We are very very lucky to have such a wealth of Christian authors and the freedom to read them. In Cambodia the only Christian authors that have been translated for them are the ones going through doing crusades and faith healing movements, and some of their books are less than orthodox.

We have no business to be spending our excess in this fashion. We are very wealthy. We have lots of money to spend, but we should be putting it to better use than filling our houses, cars, and bodies will themed decorations. With all of the people lacking in our world; the 30,000 children who die every day from preventable and treatable diseases; the many natural disasters and unnatural ones; the children lacking basic education and sanitation; the girls subjected to slavery and rape by their parents and villages; and the billions who will never know that there is a God who loves them; we have no business to be supporting an industry of producing crap for our own display.

With all the privileges we have - and being wealthy is a great privilege. On a worldwide scale, even those of us who consider ourselves just barely making it are in the top 10% of living. If you own two cars for your family you just jumped to the top 5%. God gives us this incredible opportunity to use our money to do such good in this world, and we squander it. Giving money away isn't a burden, it's a joy to have the excess to spread around and do good. Many Christians in this world would love to have what we have, and would use it far better.

What are we thinking?

Between all the odd jobs, role learning (two days have gone by since my last practice sesson, but the sun has been out for three days - a miraculous thing in Seattle, and it justifies letting everything else go while you move 'round your porch playing lizard.), cleaning, and getting ready to leave town in two weeks, I've found a new hobby.

It came about like this. One morning the girls got up early, so the Younger One started flipping channels and found Bob Ross. She exclaimed that she loves him, and I agreed (I painted a few happy little trees at a summer painting class), and we watched PBS. The next morning, early again, we flipped on PBS and found an art show, and one of the guest artists was into Artist Trading Cards.

What the heck are those, I wondered.

Well, artsy people worldwide create minature art on trading card size pieces of paper (or metal, or whatever) Anything goes, except you have to keep within the required size (2.5" X 3.5"), and you cannot sell them, only trade them for others by mail or at ATC meetings.

Amateurs and professionals do these, and then trade them with people all over the globe. How cool is that!!?

And it's a great way to use up those tiny leftover pieces of scrapbooking paper that's too big to throw away, but too small to use.

I've made ten so far.



...Oh, and check out this site for some really neat ones!!!

A Smattering

This month is speeding by, and it's only just begun.

The countdown is on for June, when I go to California to get lasik done by a specialist, then return home to pack and leave for the summer! I don't believe that it's possible to "tempt fate" - so I'll just say it - I'm very excited that in less than a month, barring complications, I'll be able to see again for the first time since I was five years old!

I'm going through Sound of Music on average of three times per song, and one complete run through each day (I had to take a break over the weekend - it's too early to be getting tired of the musical already). Yesterday I sang for an hour and a half. I'd really like to get my Kiss Me Kate score already. I have two more roles to learn, and it would be nice to get started! (Oh, for those who don't know -surely I posted it SOMEwhere down there - I'm playing Maria in Sound of Music, and Hattie and understudying Kate in Kiss Me Kate this summer)

I'm hired now by three temp agencies, Nannying, Filing Books at my local used bookstore, and now entering bibliographical information into Endnotes from stacks of journals. You would think that I'd be making ends meet since my shows ended a week ago, but the truth is, things are very tight. I'm really banking on my tax return and economic stimulus check showing up soon. So far, between three agencies, I've only had a day of work.

My roommates are both gone for the next few days, so it'll be all Sound of Music, all the time.

And I've managed to clean a good portion of my car out, pick up my room, make my bed, and finish several sewing projects I've been meaning to do, but didn't, since I hadn't set up my sewing station yet. Now it's up, and I'm off like houses afire.

As I was walking home from some errands today, I crossed the street in front of an older gentleman who let me by. He leaned out his car and offered me a ride. I do not make it a habit to pick up rides from strange men, (or women for that matter, but none of them have ever asked me), but I DID want to get to the library today, and getting a ride from him made things so much faster...

So I accepted. He's retired and very polite...

And he hit on me.

Huh.

On the plus side, I'm a "very pretty lady."

I discovered at my lasic appointment last week that I can no longer see even the big E.

Interesting nonsequiter from today's show:

Me: "What do you think will happen next?"
Boy: "You'll be naked?"
Me: (In a tone of a maidenly aunt) "I should certainly hope not."

(I think all the british lit I'm reading is getting the better of me."

Me: "I have the chance to go to Yakima this weekend to visit my family."
Holly: "I didn't think there were any Jewish people in Yakima."

It's snowing today. Hard. With a bit of hail and rain thrown in. And lightning, of all things. We decided either global warming has taken a turn for the worse, or the apocalypse is here.

Tomorrow I have an audition for some industrial work. It isn't glamorous, but it pays the bills. (Industrial work is all of the acted out employee training or sensitivity lectures. Bet you didn't know they hired real actors for that, did you? Ditto, in film, for all corporate training videos and those flight safety informational featurettes.)

Alice's Wonderland is drawing to a close. Yesterday was hellishly cute. After the Red Queen threatened to cut everyone's head off, and retired backstage in a snit, the kids took my suggestion to hide at face value, and eight of them crowded under the set table and behind the curtains. I had to do an operatic move - namely, hide a bunch of people behind my skirts. Holly came out and broke character.

I decided that, in the face of an appalling lack of spring clothing, I could spend my Alice money this week to find two pairs of pants. And anything else I could afford for $36. As a woman on a mission who hates jeans shopping more than anything else (except swimsuits), I was proactive. I went to my favorite thrift store first, and invested in a girdle. Everything fit nicer after that, and at Goodwill, I found one pair of jeans that fits except for hemming, and three tops! All told, I spent $32 on clothes today. I feel very accomplished.

Having done my spring shopping, it began to snow as soon as I got home.