Hockey Chicks!

My good friend in the hood, CN, invited me to go to the Women’s Hockey League Open House. Here’s the fun, brought to you in color! It was actually really amusing to learn that I’m not too bad on skates and realized that I really miss playing team sports. It’s too cold for outdoor soccer and I don’t like indoor (I value my limbs), can’t swim right now due to too much swimming and resulting Bursitis in my right shoulder joint (I hate being old), so I need a sport. Perhaps when I have a little extra allowance for skates. They said I could get gear for pretty cheap although used hockey gear may have to live in the basement! Yick! More pics on flickr.

Fairy Tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you bank with us…

So shortly after the New Year I got a cryptic call from my bank and they said I’d won a bike. I did actually put my name in the box to win it, but since I never win anything, I figured, OK…what’s the catch. “No catch!” they said. Hmmm. Still doubtful, I went to get my bike.
They made me wait for an hour or so and then handed me a huge box and a little box. The bike came unassembled! And in the little box was a helmet and a gift card for $50 so I could have it assembled. Humph! I have tools. How hard can it be?
So I put it together. I should say it was not difficult at all, but the wheel was all wonky and had to be taken in to my local bike shop anyway to be trued. But here it is, all green and shiny! The geek says I should keep it pristine and green, but JM (my neighbor) says that I should stick groovy East Nashville stickers all over it. What do you think? BTW, isn’t it very retro? It’s made by Schwinn!

To Do:

1. Make the house not so cold without cranking the furnace 24/7...I have weather stripping stuffed in every possible crack and cranny and STILL it is cold in here. The gas bill was just under $300! Yipe!!
2. Return library books. Nashville Public Library lets me cancel my book fines with a canned item per $1 owed from now until the 6th of January. And I think I owe a lot! I'm a little forgetful when it comes to library books. Especially the ones that have house repair pages I use every week or so. I don't want to give them back! I really should just suck it up and buy them. I'll need them as long as I have a house. Sigh.
3. Install new cook-top. Oh the joys of landlord-ship. The cook-top I bought (used) for the cottage, bit the dust and I've not been able to get the thing working again. So it's time to get a new (used) one and install it. Re-wiring is required for this project since oddly enough the last cook-top was made for 120V. I know. My electrician was baffled by that too. This project is electrician supervised, but Musician labor. Double Yipe!
4. Go back to work. Dave says I should. At least my interpretation of what Dave says. I AM able to work, am not currently recording or touring (or being paid to be the musician) I have to go back to work for that same Huge Institution Type University that keeps having temp jobs for me to do. Sigh again.
5. Register to vote. In our new location.
6. Vehicle Registration...oops.
7. Pack away Christmas doo-dads.
8. Take down the tree. It was a good run, giant tree, but I'm tired of watering you. Besides, you'll be going to a better home making someone's plants grow big and strong as opposed to providing entertainment for my insane cat. Who thinks it's his personal job to seek and destroy all things dangley and window blinds. Window blinds especially. And then sleep on the back of the chair like so. And wake me up in the morning by jumping on the bed, walking up the entire length of my body, perching on my chest all the while saying any of the following "me me row", "marooo", "mah", "meh", "mrauwoo" and then placing a paw upon my face until I open my eyes. (These are all direct Gizmo quotes) Besides, I don't think the little stuffed snow man can take much more. He's lost his nose, his scarf, his clove buttons and his dignity.

World Wide Fabulous!!

In recent weeks I've gotten hits from South Africa, the Russian Federation, and Canada. The South Africa hit I know about, but the rest of you, Shout out where you are from if you read!! I have been US bound for TOO long and if I can't be outside the borders, I can (for a moment) live vicariously through you. Is it Steph in Russia? Where are you dear?

Happy New Year!!

May it be a fabulous one for all of you out there.

God and Gandalf

vs
I'm sure I'm not the first to talk about this and I know I won't be the last, but indulge me a little if you will. Sunday night’s sermon sparked interesting conversations about how we see God. There seems to be several camps in our faith that can’t seem to reconcile themselves to one another.

The first can be best summed up in a T-shirt. ‘Jesus is my Homeboy.’ Meaning Jesus and God are more like good buddies, they show up when I need them to, they do what I ask, take care of me, the have my back if I’m in trouble etc. It’s a friendship really. I have respect for Him, but I do what I want. I’m not intimidated at all by my homeboy. It begins with teaching children

The second is God and Jesus as these inaccessible beings who can’t be touched, who we can’t be close to. “The wrath of God”, “the fear of God”, “fall on your face” in fear of God; these are all phrases that the church bandies about. I heard preached in many a good southern church growing up, ‘the fear of God.’ Some parents even say it just before the ‘whuppin’ starts, sometimes. “I’m gonna put the fear of God in you, girl/boy!” So God is this thing who is gonna take me out if I step out of line; this being of all power that I must and will fear.

This has caused much confusion for both me and the DH and was the subject of our discussion last night. Even though both of us, with our adult minds, know how we ‘should’ see God, when it really comes down to it, our subconscious acts out of one of these two mind sets. At least mine does, (I can’t speak for the DH.) As we were talking about all of this and where to find Grace in either of these two places, I thought of a movie. Yes, I have ADD, but that’s not the point.

There is a scene in the LoTR film – The Fellowship of the Ring, where Gandalf is in Bilbo’s house, trying to convince him, in a very kind way, that perhaps it’s best to leave the ring behind. The ring is obviously killing him. Bilbo says it himself that he ‘feels thin, stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread,’ and yet, he can’t imagine life without it, because it is also keeping him alive, for it’s own purposes. The ring has helped him out of a jam or two; it is his ace in the hole, really. Bilbo gets angry about having to leave the ring and turns on his friend. Then we get a small glimpse of who Gandalf truly is. His power expands so much that the house he stands in can’t hold it, groaning with the sheer magnitude of it.

Gandalf says ‘Do not take me for some conjurer of cheap tricks. I’m not trying to rob you, I’m trying to help you.’ As he says the last phrase, his kind face and sad blue eyes come back into focus and instead of running from him, Bilbo runs to his arms.

For me, that is a good summation of God. He knows me, he loves me, but I have no concept of just how overwhelming and unfathomable he is, until I need to know. However, this glimpse of the glory of who he is, though it overwhelms me and causes me to be afraid at the sheer enormity of it, sends me running to His arms, not away from Him. I think of that Hubble photo called Pillars of Creation and am awed that the creator of that cares about me. Pretty Cool.