Toothpastefordinner For Lunch

I may be easy to please, but I seriously just got the biggest thrill by scrolling down the August section of Toothpastefordinner.com .

Go ahead, do it.



The Pedant's funeral?
Pirahna-head syndrome?

Classic.

Just A Note About Memory...What Was I Saying?

Can anyone solve my memory loss problem?

I hate it.

I decided to write a blog about it and it's amazing that I even remembered what I was writing about by the time the page loaded.

It's that bad.

I can't remember names of things.
Dates of things.
Things I thought about telling people.
Questions I need to ask people.


I once told my boss that I was a terrible administrator because I had no date/time comprehension. I could be typing for five minutes or fifteen minutes or twenty minutes and it would all feel the same to me. The morning could pass and all of its events without any notice in my brain. If there was a 9AM meeting, I would just as likely think it was 9AM at 9AM as I would at 11:34AM. Time-sensitivity, I have you not.


But she pointed out that the thing that made me a great administrator was that I had realized my weaknesses and capitalized on my strengths to compensate. I had created an intricate system of post-it-noting that would remind me of important dates and times, and often times remind me to remind myself to look to see if there was anything important that I should be doing, thinking, moving around.


I can always remember, ironically, the lyrics to the old song that fits my predicament so hand-in-glovely:

Do you suffer from short-term memory loss?

I don't remember

Working / Laughing

I have a one-train mind.

The track is never the same, but whatever track I end up on...the train gets stuck real good. Today my mind felt like a wild mustang ranch with a broken fence. Horses everywhere. Chaos and excitement and swirling dust.

I think, at one point in the day, my heart was actually racing with a swiftness that quite caught me off guard and caused a small sort of fever.

All the while I sat nearly motionless at my desk inside a light grey cubicle under fluorescent lights, printing mortgage documents for people with awkward names that sound like feminine hygiene products or human innards. I spend half of my printing time listening to regional news of France in French and the other half of my time laughing quietly to myself about the names of the people on our loans.

Really? You named your daughter after a redwood tree?
Really? You named your son the equivalent of Todd Todderts?

People, I ask this genuinely--when it comes to naming your children, what are you thinking?

That's why Jack is such a good, strong name, for a boy.
And of course, for a girl--Asbestos.

The Taking Tree

I stood below and shook the tree
I let your leaves rain down on me
I never crawled your gnarled-up branch
To lay upon you on my back
Never passed a night of stars
Cradled in your twisted arms

I stood below and shook you, tree
And felt your leaves rain down on me

Le To Do List: L'August '09

TO DO LIST Write Thank Yous Call my sister Call my other sister Call my mom Call my brother Wish I could call Dad Study math Study more math Study even more math Get a cat {Make jokes about the cat you'll never ever get} Purchase an insurance plan for the school year Draw a map of our healthcare system on the back of a napkin and then burn it in effigy Find all of Shelby's earrings at the bottom of purse and return them Study even moooooore math Daydream for 2.3 minutes about Mr. Brilliant Buy groceries Make more pudding

Ride With Me

Last Saturday I flew over Nashville in a small plane.
I watched the sun disappear to the West from 4500 feet.

Tonight...I will ride in a jeep with no top or sides, hair flying, taking in the fresh night air, next to a brilliant, older and exciting man.

Relax, this kind of stuff happens every day.
Or not.

I Survived: Just Another Week in Middle America

I've had a long and eventful couple of weeks with a lot of exciting adventures, a lot of new experiences and a lot of deep thinking about my future:

I stopped eating pizza at least once a day.
I started drinking a gallon of water every day.
I flew a small plane for a short while.
I made pudding using soy milk.
I found a lunch workout buddy.
I rented a math textbook.
I saved and saved and saved $$$.
I pushed myself into the oncoming traffic of dating.

I survived

Maybe survival is the best I can hope for considering the variety in that spectrum. Maybe it's too much to hope for that I would be thriving in the midst of such changes. The sad fact is that not all changes are good changes---or at least not all changes make your life a fun-ner place to live. Some things hurt, burn, sting. Some risks you win...but some you lose. And when you take a lot of risks in a row you begin to desensitize yourself to how much you're hurting, burning, stinging.

Today I sat at my desk and cried. I cried because I'm changing. I cried because I didn't get something I wanted very much. I cried because I have no Dad. In the end, my tears were not the flag of despair's victory as much as an error message from an overworked program. I simply cried before I had a moment to stop and consider whether I wanted to cry or not. If there was a victory, it was of fatigue and ennui.

Once the sad forest mist cleared away from my mood, I opened up my little travel bible and read a few Psalms, including Psalm 42. This particular passage stood out to me; sort of gave me a lift.

Why are you cast down, O my soul?
And why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God
for I shall yet praise Him
for the help of His countenance.

So there it is, Hope in God.




I shall yet praise Him.