Peace On Earth

I already posted this on Facebook, but it's worth a repeat. Best rendering and devotional of Longfellow's poem I've ever heard.

Meditation #17

From John Donne's Meditation #17:

"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the lss, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of they friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore, never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

Nocturne in C Sharp Minor

I'm listening to Joshua Bell's Romance of the Violin. I believe it was a Christmas gift a couple of years back. I particularly like Nocturne, Track #3.

Vernise, he Teague's grandma, Mrs. Kelley's mother, had a stroke Friday. She's having a really rough recovery. Some of her symptoms include restlessness and disorientation which translates into her not sleeping, trying to get out of bed on her own and thus falling. This is dealt with by always having someone sit with her. We, as in the Bavidos, have gotten to help out with this a couple of times and are on call. The poor Kelleys really need their rest so I really hope they don't hesitate to call us. Another problem is getting enough liquids and nourishment down her because she's been having trouble swallowing. Please be praying for Vernise and her family.

The job hunt continues. I had a job interview earlier this week for a legal secretary that I've already been turned down for. I have an interview next week for a volunteer coordinator position. I emailed a reminder or followed up today with a career services position for a tech school. I need to send off a resume tomorrow for a case manager position. Praise God, I'm doing much better on the motivation and not-getting-discouraged/depressed in relation to job hunting.

I've discovered that when left to set my own schedule that I sleep from 1 a.m. to 10 a.m. and am most reflective and thoughtful between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m. I'm not really sure when I'm the most productive--perhaps the early afternoon?

I continue to be shocked and horrified by my own selfishness. Mrs. Teague had asked me to get her copies of the Bavido originals that had been read at our poetry festival. I completely forgot that BonnieJean, Isaac, and Dad had read their own compositions and just printed off the ones by me that had been read. How terrible am I?!

Finite Contemplation

In the Hogfather, they discover that there is a finite amount of belief in the universe. I'm not so certain about that, but I've decided I possess personally a finite amount of contemplation and writing. I've been doing a lot of journaling this week, which I'm not quite prepared to post on here yet. However, that has totally drained me of any thoughts to post on here, and I don't want to do a boring "This is what I did" or "This is what I need to do" post. So, here is a poem I wrote for poetry class last semester. It has been well received by the very wide audience of the Teagues, my family, and my poetry class. I wrote it thinking about Dixie and Sirius.

Fetch

I shall mercilessly maul!

Why do people delay?

Look, there goes the ball!

Now you are in my thrall!

Sphere, there’s no use to pray.

I shall mercilessly maul!

Someone pulls. Oh, the gall!

No! You shall not esca—

Look, there goes the ball!

This time I crawl,

silently sneaking up on my prey.

I shall mercilessly maul!

I pounce and fall

as the target gives a slight sway.

Look, there goes the ball!

Across the yard and back against the wall—

I could play away the day!

Look, there goes the ball!

I shall mercilessly maul!

29 Years

They sit on the couch reading

Their companionable silence is content

Sometimes they hold hands

Occasionally they read a thought aloud

Their companionable silence is content

When they share a laugh the walls glow

Occasionally they read a thought aloud

Their minds like iron to iron

When they share a luagh the walls glow

He's an artistic engineer, she an architect artist

Their minds like iron to iron

So very different but growing the same

He's an artistic engineer, she an artchitect artist

She was in ROTC, he was a hippie ten years late

So very different but growing the same

They were and are determined to make it work.

She was in ROTC, he was a hippie ten years late

They never should have made it

They were and are determined to make it work

God must be determined, too

They never should have made it

He makes her breakfast, she irons his shirt

God must be determined, too

They snuggle and pray together in the mornings

He makes her breakfast, she irons his shirt

Sometimes they hold hands

They snuggle and pray together in the mornings

They sit on the couch, reading.

One down

fifteen to go.  Yep, I survived my first week back.  Alas for my readers, my topics will probably be severaly tilted towards school news for these next fifteen weeks.  The good news is that my classes look very interesting, so y'all shouldn't be too bored with school posts.

I'm eating some very luscious potato soup and annabread.  Yum!  Mama is an amazing cook!

I heard "Starlings", one of the new songs by Brave Saint Saturn, the other day.  It's about the tragedy of senseless death, even those of starlings.  I think I'll play it for people when I tell them that what I look forward most to in the new earth is the people that will be there and the lack of road kill.  To me, road kill is a perfect picture of how bad we've broken our world.

Exciting baby news!  Number one, Sandy Gilliland is pregnant!  She's just ten weeks along, due in August.  She and Jamey will make excellent parents.  Number two, Erica went in for a routine check-up today and came up as preeclampsic.  Eek!  So, they induced labor and we're waiting on pins and needles for a phone call.  This is 24 days early, which isn't too bad compared to eclampsia.   I'm barely sitting still!

Tomorrow, Lord willing, Mama and I are going to go buy all my painting supplies.  I can't wait to start fiddling around with the stuff.  I want to get really familiar with my paints before we do our first canvas piece in a couple of weeks.

We wrote a pantoum today in Poetry class.  I think I really like that form and I was relatively pleased with what I wrote, but not pleased enough to post it here.

I have been really good about working out this week.  I have been really sore, but I can tell it makes me feel better generally.

Tomorrow is our first day of BonnieJean's Bible study with us and the Teagues.  I'm excited about it!

I'm going to bed now.  Love y'all!

Cozy night

  I'm making sleepty time tea right now, perfect for a late night cap.

  BonnieJean made the most luscious guacamole this evening.  I didn't know I liked guacamole.  I had never even tried it, because I had assumed it was spicy.  I discovered, however, that it's actually quite mild and I like it.

  I got to do some quill work with Mama this evening.  Writing with a quill is twice as fun as writing with a regular pen.  We got to having fun rhyming and making up silly poems.  I'm not going to put any up here because Mama's going to put them up on her blog.

  For the first time in three years we have neighbors to our right!  They're Paul, Evette, and Nathan.  Nathan is 9; he and Caleb seem to be hitting it off well.  Evette is originally from San Antonio.  They are here for Paul to attend the Spartan School of Aeronautics in Tulsa.  They were living on the wet side of Washington state and poor southern Evette is very glad to have left.  I don't think I would survive long on the wet side of Washington, either.  I need my sunshine!

  Samuel starts his full internship tomorrow!  We're all so excited!  Everybody pray for him!  Do I have enough explanation points?!

  Dad goes back to work tomorrow. :(  He's had the last 2+ weeks off and we've all gotten spoiled.  Going back to work wouldn't be so bad I guess if he liked his job more.  I wish I could just wish the perfect job into existence for him.

  I installed Age of Kings on my laptop today.  I love that game!  Everyone hold me accountable to uninstall it on the 13th when I go back to school.

  I'm going to go sip my tea and read some out of Ephesians.  Love y'all!

Lazy ramblings

This is a meandering post of my random thoughts. Proceed at your own risk.

I want to learn how to play this.

I had such a lovely time yesterday! I don't really care for baby showers (they're just so feminime and trivial) and this was a very stereotypical baby shower. So I played with my cousin Sarah's baby Zoey most of the time. I wish I could have taken her home. The good part came after the shower when we just got to visit with Sam, Samantha, Tobin, Erica, Kent, Linda, Adam, Matthew, and Nathan (it gives me warm fuzzies just to write their names out!)

Erica has gained 32 pounds and it's almost all entirely in her baby bump. She's as gorgeous as ever! It still freaks me out to think that she's actually having a baby! I'm insanely excited, too! If it's a boy, his name will be Blake Cameron. I don't care for the name Blake, but if she has a boy I will instantly love the name Blake. If it's a girl, she'll be Molly Jean, carrying on the family name of Jean. :)

Adam went against all of our advice and bought a pick up truck--a huge truck. It's a Dodge Ram, double cab, really nice bed liner, silver, seats 6. I don't think he should have gotten in debt for it, but it is pretty awesome. I forgot to ask him what he named it. He's working two jobs and going to school--typical overachiever Sutherland, I love it. I like his girlfriend Sam more every time I see her.

While we girls were in Texas, Samuel, Ethan, and Joshua went with a bunch of other karate people to the Murrow's Children Home in Muskogee. The famous Zip Taylor was there! Erica, I hope you realize what I unknowningly sacrificed for you! Zip Taylor is old, old school ABKA, and THE kata man. He's helping out at Vicki Rutledge's dojo in Lawton. I think that's a good thing--their kata needs help and Vicki's health isn't going to be getting better. Vicki asked him to help out because she's been having trouble with gangs at her dojo.

I LOVE driving on the Indian Nation Turnpike. It's relatively flat and straight and almost desserted. I went 85 the whole way--Mama wouldn't let me hit 100, even though I really wanted to. Next time, I'm not gonna ask, I'll just wait until she falls asleep. I had a moment of pure joy when I came over a rise, got hit with a lovely view of pasture land and straight road all to Josh Groban singing Panis Angelicus on the I-trip.

I've come down with some kind of throat infection and left my voice in Texas. Poor thing, it's probably cold and confused, trying to hitch it's way North along highway 69. I'm sure it will eventually find me. I still have Whisper with me.

I'm reading Blue Like Jazz right now. I'm really enjoying it. It has deep truths, but it's still very readable.

There are a lot of CDs I need to get, which is rather unusual. Usually I just want specific songs, not the whole album. I want Dark Horse by Nickelback, Fearless by Taylor Swift, Anti-Meridian by Brave St. Saturn, Weezer: The Red Album by Weezer, And Winter Came by Enya, Peace on Earth by Casting Crowns, and the Twilight and Prince Caspian soundtracks. I think I'll space it out throughout my yearly budget, one CD a month. So I should have all of these in a year!

I need to make a point to read some poetry over my break. If you read well, you write well and I'm already nervous about my poetry class next semester.

It's sleeting right now and the low tonight will be 19. Yuck.

Starting tomorrow, I'm job hunting. Jia-o!

Facebook etiquette is confusing. Is it rude to peruse someone's wall? Does anyone read my notes that are a feed from this blog? Do people only read notes in which they are tagged?

Uncle Evan fell off a ladder after Thanksgiving and broke his pelvis. He's home now. Mama called Esther this evening, but I haven't debriefed her yet.

I finished reading Mort by Terry Pratchett. It was stunningly clever. I think I'll read The Color of Magic next, also by Pratchett.

I think I'm going to go play a mindless computer game, read my Bible, and hit the sack. Love y'all!

I know brilliant people

Here is a poem by my own dear friend Sarah Lovin.  Read carefully all the way through several times.

Forget Hurricanes: Miley Has a Fake Tan

They sit in two stacks
By the coffee shop couch.
Latest news to be told,
Crinkled pages scream out.

Vying for attention,
Both try to catch your eye.
Each claiming importance,
It’s news, and news implied.

Miss Spears is now pregnant,
At the age of sixteen.
Her face is on “OK,”
And her bright smile gleams.

Diane lost her children,
To a war not her own,
She would give up her life
To bring her sweet ones home.

It’s now their wedding day,
Not a luxury they lack,
They pledge love forever,
They stab each other’s backs.

In Thailand she is sold,
Her life gone for a price,
Forced into a brothel,
Until she won’t entice.

Stars put on a few pounds,
The papers are appalled.
Pounds shed to shift the eyes,
Sunken cheeks, doctors called.

The famine fuels their fear,
For many hope is lost.
Days are growing shorter,
With bones, the ground embossed.

One screams glamour and glitz,
Tells of sordid, dark lives,
Cat fights and fashion flops,
From this, some joy derived.

The other speaks cheerless truths, 
Ones we like to ignore,
We have enough sadness,
Why would we want some more?

Poetry

I was in a random mode for poetry tonight.  Here are some of my favorites.

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

Road by Tolkien.

Hobbit version.

Roads go ever ever on,

Over rock and under tree,

By caves where never sun has shone,

By streams that never find the sea;

Over snow by winter sown,

And through the merry flowers of June,

Over grass and over stone,

And under mountains of the moon.

Roads go ever ever on

Under cloud and under star,

Yet feet that wandering have gone

Turn at last to home afar.

Eyes that fire and sword have seen

And horror in the halls of stone

Look at last on meadows green

And trees and hills they long have known.

Bilbo's version in LOTR.

The Road goes ever on and on

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

And I must follow, if I can,

Pursuing it with eager feet,

Until it joins some larger way

Where many paths and errands meet

.And whither then? I cannot say.

The Road goes ever on and on

Out from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the Road has gone,

Let others follow it who can!

Let them a journey new begin,

But I at last with weary feet

Will turn towards the lighted inn,

My evening-rest and sleep to meet.

A slightly different version from the younger hobbits in LOTR.
Upon the hearth the fire is red,

Beneath the roof there is a bed,

But not yet weary are our feet,

Still round the corner we may meet:

A sudden tree or standing stone

That none have seen but we alone.

Tree and flower and leaf and grass,

Let them pass! Let them pass!

Hill and water under sky,

Pass them by! Pass them by!

Still round the corner there may wait

A new road or a secret gate

And though we pass them by today

Tomorrow we may come this way

And take the hidden paths that run

Towards the Moon or to the Sun.

Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,

Let them go! Let them go!

Sand and stone and pool and dell,

Fare you well! Fare you well!

Home is behind, the world ahead

And there are many paths to tread

Through shadows to the edge of night

Until the stars are all alight.

Then world behind and home ahead

We'll wander back to home and bed.

Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,

Away shall fade! Away shall fade!

Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,

And then to bed! And then to bed!

I, too, sing America by Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother.

They send me to eat in the kitchen

When company comes,

But I laugh,

And eat well,

And grow strong.

Tomorrow,

I'll be at the table

When company comes.

Nobody'll dare

Say to me,

"Eat in the kitchen,"

Then.

Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed--

I, too, am America.

Sorting Hat Song from Sorcerer's Stone

Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,
But don't judge on what you see,
I'll eat myself if you can find
A smarter hat than me.
You can keep your bowlers black,
Your top hats sleek and tall,
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat
And I can top them all.
There's nothing hidden in your head
The Sorting Hat can't see,
So try me on and I will tell you
Where you ought to be.
You might belong in Gryffindor,
Where dwell the brave at heart,
Their daring, nerve and chivalry
Set Gryffindors apart;
You might belong in Hufflepuff,
Where they are just and loyal,
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true
And unafraid of toil;
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,
If you've a steady mind,
Where those of wit and learning,
Will always find their kind;
Or perhaps in Slytherin
You'll make your real friends,
Those cunning folk use any means
To achieve their ends.
So put me on! Don't be afraid!
And don't get in a flap!
You're in safe hands (though I have none)
For I'm a Thinking Cap!