Random stuff
This is pretty amusing, considering that I'm an atheist:
You know the Bible 100%!
Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!
Ultimate Bible Quiz
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Of course, with questions like the following, it wasn't all that difficult:
41. What did Jesus and His disciples feed the crowd of 5000?
pizza
bread and fish
Chinese take-out
manna
"The $6,000,000 Race"
A normally safe Republican Congressional seat, formerly held by ex-Speaker of the House Denny Hastert, has gone to a Democrat, at least until November, when there will be a re-do between The Milkman (dairy magnate Jim Oberweis) and The Physicist (winner, and novice pol Bill Foster). Foster won by 53-47%, in what was a pretty nasty mud-slinger on both sides. (The Republicans didn't help themselves with a mud-slinging primary. Which may be something from which Clinton and Obama need to take a lesson.) This was JO's fourth try at buying himself an office. Of course, Foster was no slouch in the Millionaire Money Toss, either. The most amusing part of the whole thing was Oberweis trying to position himself as the "change" candidate, and claiming that a vote for Foster was a vote for "business as usual". Dang, but Illinois politics can be fun.
"Weighty matters"
I think I'm going back to Weight Watchers. I have to do something! Getting ready to go out last night, I took from my closet a skirt that I hadn't worn in quite a while, and I could barely zip it up. This is not good. First thing: stop going out to lunch, especially to buffet restaurants! Second thing: cut out wine drinking (a waste of calories). Third thing: do better at meal planning. No more of this "It's late so I'll just throw a pizza in the oven" stuff. Summer's coming, girl, time to get skinny!
"Cultural matters"
Wednesday
Another Horton Foote play at the Goodman, A Trip to Bountiful. Very well done, with Lois Smith as Carrie Watts and Hallie Foote as Jessie Mae. Dinner beforehand at Trattoria Ten. I had the risotto with spinach and Waygu beef, which was also excellent.
Got home in time to watch the finale of Project Runway, which is my guilty pleasure and does not, perhaps, actually belong under the heading "Cultural matters", except for the fact that Tim Gunn is so erudite. I found the outcome to be very annoying. Bring back Fern Mallis!
Friday
A literary evening at Casa Italiana. There was a reading of some poems by Camillo Sbarbaro, first in Italian and then in English, a couple of short stories by Dino Buzzati read in translation, and then Robert Rodi recited, from memory, Canto V of Dante's Inferno (in Italian) followed by an epilogue to it that he wrote - in terza rima! in Italian! Go, Robert! (He also did so with a cast on his foot, having broken it in a fall on the ice. His partner said that he came out of the anesthetic rambling in Italian.)
Saturday
Carousel at the Court Theatre. Well, no. The production was excellent; I like Court's minimalist productions of musicals. The actress who played Carrie Pipperidge was particularly fine. But I really, really hate this play. How stupid is Julie? From the very beginning, you just want to yell, "Run, girl, run!" Of course, many plays (and operas) are like that, sometimes there's no story unless someone acts like an idiot, but what really irks me about this one is that it not only excuses domestic violence, it glorifies it. "Mama, he hit me and it felt like a kiss. Is that possible?" "Yes, dear. Sometimes, someone can hit you and it doesn't hurt at all." Give me a damn break.
You know the Bible 100%!
Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!
Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes
Of course, with questions like the following, it wasn't all that difficult:
41. What did Jesus and His disciples feed the crowd of 5000?
pizza
bread and fish
Chinese take-out
manna
"The $6,000,000 Race"
A normally safe Republican Congressional seat, formerly held by ex-Speaker of the House Denny Hastert, has gone to a Democrat, at least until November, when there will be a re-do between The Milkman (dairy magnate Jim Oberweis) and The Physicist (winner, and novice pol Bill Foster). Foster won by 53-47%, in what was a pretty nasty mud-slinger on both sides. (The Republicans didn't help themselves with a mud-slinging primary. Which may be something from which Clinton and Obama need to take a lesson.) This was JO's fourth try at buying himself an office. Of course, Foster was no slouch in the Millionaire Money Toss, either. The most amusing part of the whole thing was Oberweis trying to position himself as the "change" candidate, and claiming that a vote for Foster was a vote for "business as usual". Dang, but Illinois politics can be fun.
"Weighty matters"
I think I'm going back to Weight Watchers. I have to do something! Getting ready to go out last night, I took from my closet a skirt that I hadn't worn in quite a while, and I could barely zip it up. This is not good. First thing: stop going out to lunch, especially to buffet restaurants! Second thing: cut out wine drinking (a waste of calories). Third thing: do better at meal planning. No more of this "It's late so I'll just throw a pizza in the oven" stuff. Summer's coming, girl, time to get skinny!
"Cultural matters"
Wednesday
Another Horton Foote play at the Goodman, A Trip to Bountiful. Very well done, with Lois Smith as Carrie Watts and Hallie Foote as Jessie Mae. Dinner beforehand at Trattoria Ten. I had the risotto with spinach and Waygu beef, which was also excellent.
Got home in time to watch the finale of Project Runway, which is my guilty pleasure and does not, perhaps, actually belong under the heading "Cultural matters", except for the fact that Tim Gunn is so erudite. I found the outcome to be very annoying. Bring back Fern Mallis!
Friday
A literary evening at Casa Italiana. There was a reading of some poems by Camillo Sbarbaro, first in Italian and then in English, a couple of short stories by Dino Buzzati read in translation, and then Robert Rodi recited, from memory, Canto V of Dante's Inferno (in Italian) followed by an epilogue to it that he wrote - in terza rima! in Italian! Go, Robert! (He also did so with a cast on his foot, having broken it in a fall on the ice. His partner said that he came out of the anesthetic rambling in Italian.)
Saturday
Carousel at the Court Theatre. Well, no. The production was excellent; I like Court's minimalist productions of musicals. The actress who played Carrie Pipperidge was particularly fine. But I really, really hate this play. How stupid is Julie? From the very beginning, you just want to yell, "Run, girl, run!" Of course, many plays (and operas) are like that, sometimes there's no story unless someone acts like an idiot, but what really irks me about this one is that it not only excuses domestic violence, it glorifies it. "Mama, he hit me and it felt like a kiss. Is that possible?" "Yes, dear. Sometimes, someone can hit you and it doesn't hurt at all." Give me a damn break.