Oops, day off tomorrow should not mean up late, since I'm still going to the gym.

[hermionesviolin]

Apparently the CAUMC Young Adult Minister position is only paid for 10 months, so Sean will not be working for us July and August, and we opted to not meet on Thursday nights during that time.  So I'll be able to go to The Crossing or the Thursday night sessions of my Tuesday/Thursday World Religions class or whatever.

I am still figuring out the driving "why" of my ecumenical summer so that I can tailor my schedule appropriately.

I am a lazy fucking bitch at work, but it also makes me twitchy to take time off.  Yeah, I have Issues about being a control-freak and all that.  But I am taking all day tomorrow off (washing machine is arriving between noon and 2pm).

Reminder: meme

My stomach feels a little off.  As it did after lunch.  I think this is stomach and not that-time-of-months cramps, but I'm not sure why that would be (i.e., what it is that I ate that would be upsetting my stomach).  Meh.  (It doesn't actually hurt such that it's a problem, I just think it can't be good.)

***

"Joy Sadhana is a daily practice in the observation of joy."
-mylittleredgirl [ more info]

"Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come.  You wait and watch and work: you don't give up." --Anne Lamott

Good things about today:

• I heart Gillian.  "You know, you deserve better men in your life--as friends, as colleagues, as partners, as whatever you want them to be."
  
• "The type of item you ordered does not require installation. The delivery team will setup the appliance when it is delivered. You were only charged for the delivery fee of $65.00."  Yay not spending nearly as much money as I thought!  (Housemate and I are both not gonna be around much on Saturday, so I opted to just go with their Friday delivery rather than waiting until next Wednesday -- which would have been the first good day for me to take off next week.)
  
• After Rest and Bread service last night, I emailed Laura Ruth the blogposts of the sermons Tiffany has preached using that "bright, brilliant, beloved child of God" story.  She emailed me back this morning: "Elizabeth, thank you! You're link the tinker who goes door to door in a community and give us each others' good news. Thank you!"
  I love her articulation of this as sharing each others' good news.  Especially since that phrase has been on my mind recently -- every time I cryptically lift up in corporate prayer "good news about my friend Terry," I hear the resonance of "good news"="gospel" and think of "I have come to proclaim release to the captives..." (which has its own layered resonances of both literal and metaphorical release and captivity).
  
• At lunch, at one point it was just me and Katie, so during a lull I said, "Oh, I heard from my friend Terry."  She visibly brightened and said, "Oh good, hasn't it been like five months?"  Way to be a better answer than Keith's :)
  I think I have now updated everyone I told the beginning of this story to.  (Though I should probably mention it to Jason in person.)
  
• Tim joined us for part of lunch.
  
• Roza texted me to tell me about the drag contest tonight in case I was free tonight.  And apparently took pictures while she was there.  And also replied to my questions about planning for Tuesday night.
  
• [CAUMC] Sean Affirmed my charitableness (we had been talking about planning activities for the fall, and in voicing my preferences I kept caveating, wanting to take into account people with different preferences than my own).  Meredith Affirmed my articulateness.  Mike Affirmed my cheerful helpfulness (during dinner, we had talked about work and location and I had talked about how I'm in front of the door so I'm often doing that "Can I help you?").
  
• Cassy facebook friended me.
  
• Allie and I had emails cross paths about Saturday Pride.  Yay for her coming with me to church Saturday morning :)
  
• Hee, my mom.

Things I did well today:

• I only snoozed my alarm once and I ate breakfast at home and I took out the recycling and I went to the [gym] ~35min weight room
  
• L. didn't call me last night, but I had 3 emails from her when I got up this morning.  I emailed her back, and talking through some of my own stuff (she asked) was actually helpful for me (this happens to me a lot when I'm all, "I don't wanna talk about it, I don't wanna dwell" -- clearly I still haven't mastered that balance), but I was also able to articulate stuff to her that ... well, I don't know if it was helpful to her since I haven't heard back from her, but it felt to me like grace that I was able to be more articulate than I can under my own power.
  
• I hung out with FCS UCC folk while they were handing out rainbow cross lollipops, and as they were cleaning up (having run out of lollipops -- apparently they had bought 200, which I found hard to believe, though admittedly I didn't get there until about 5:45) I heard Gianna ask Laura Ruth about Leviticus -- self-admittedly passing the buck to a pastor, and I jumped in because I could do that argument in my sleep, and he brought up various issues (turns out he's an atheist who's never been a believer, despite having been raised Catholic, but he really enjoys engaging believers in discussion -- like he'll chat up the folks handing out tracts and everything) and I responded to all of them well (re: Jesus' "I come not to bring peace but a sword," I actually used the interpretation Jeremy and Marla had articulated to me on Saturday night when I had invoked that very passage being all, "Where's your pacifist Jesus here?") and while that was partly because he was jumping from topic to topic and not pressing really hard on any one argument, I was also impressed that I could articulate broad themes and point to Scripture for my claims.
  
• I called my brother to follow up on an email I'd sent (I accidentally sent it to an address he never checks).
  
• I followed up with a whole bunch of people about plans and such.
  
• I remembered to bring to (and put away at) CAUMC the plastic wrap I'd bought after we'd run out.

Things I am looking forward to (doing [better]) tomorrow:
["anything that you're looking forward to, that means you're facing tomorrow with joy, not trepidation," as Ari says]

• Having a new washing machine.
  
• Interfaith Pride service at Havurat Shalom