A Single Layer

Soon to be on the road, headed to Colorado, I don't know that this post will be more than a brief shout-out in the midst of silence. I have had the content of this post planned since last Sunday morning when I sat and listened to the sermon by Pastor Lou Houesmann at Grace Brethren in Long Beach. Settle back with some hot coffee and click here for the mp3. And happy birthday to my dearling sister, Amanda.

there will be few updates here in these next few weeks, as i am in the midst of a life-transit. that is, i am not technically going anywhere at the moment, but will be soon, and so am living out of my car. check out that comma splice! things should be relatively stable by mid-june, though i will be in long beach as a resident. i'm not sure how stable long beach residents are. or if there will be anything worth blogging about so near the highly-trafficked shore. we shall see.

Curiosity keeps the cat alive. So also am I made new by your minutest miracle. Not a new human, just a new woman. Whereupon I become the redemptress, No seductress, But a totem pole of your mysteries. Though I hope to be laid out In a single layer, You will sort me patiently If I wait and make myself pliable With frequent stretching. Asking questions Not fearing tears, But poring and pouring Into your eyes and your ears.

I was having a bad day. And then my sister's facebook profile reminded me to browse through some LOLcats. I will sleep with joy and laughter in my heart. This is for all of you who suffered through Dracula with me last year. The book, of course, but even more sufferingly, the movie. And if you are curious about LOLcats' Titanic interpretation, browse the site yourself . More joy in abundance.

Found this on a new site Ayjay introduced me to today. And yes, there are two links in that sentence. [Image: The unforgettable final glimpse of a U.S. government warehouse from Raiders of the Lost Ark ]. The article linked to above begins with this photo and goes on to talk about a warehouse being built in the UK to house unwanted books. The rest of the photos are even more fascinating - being actual buildings - as is the article. Give it a shot.

It occurs to me that the last several posts have been links or videos - and that some of you might actually be wondering what's going on with me as a person and not as an internet surfer. Just a quick update, then, my house is almost completely gutted of furniture as my parents are making the last few steps toward becoming real true residents of Long Beach. This means that I must follow them rather soon, because there's a limit to how long I can live in a large house with only four articles of furniture. (There might be more than that, but spread out over so many rooms, it seems inconsequential.) I know that there is much to do this afternoon to aid my parents in this endeavour, but I am pretty sure that I won't be doing any of it. I'll be running off to the movies, or to friends' houses, or to Starbucks - to drink away my sorrow.

Another from my favourite.

It's been a while since I added anything from Wooster Collective . Here's a photo from April 26th, taken in Columbus, OH. You may have to visit the sight to get a closer look:

I know, I know... we just couldn't get enough. :)

My mum took me to Open Call at the McCallum Theatre this afternoon. A celebratory event! My favourite was the yo-yo king, Gerard Amento. Here's a clip from his performance last year. Hopefully youtube will come up with today's performace sometime in the next week. (The McCallum demographic isn't generally a youtube-type crowd.)

see more crazy cat pics

Fascinating .

My mother and I celebrate our birthdays this weekend. Mine was Friday, hers is Monday. Where to eat? What to do? I dropped movies off at the library while she packed up the garage. Not a thrilling way to celebrate, but necessary. I think it's time I remember what it means to celebrate life at all. Renew in my mind the awareness required to really honour one's own birth. Remember that this moment is precious. Thoroughly delight in whatever company finds its way to you today. Listen to their conversation. Don't just hear; don't try to converse. Ask questions rather than offer solutions, and listen . Laugh at many things, but not everything. Do not laugh at the loss of anyone's dignity; prize and protect it. Stand up for the one whom general opinion shuns - unless it is not opinion, but right judgment. Listen to music with both ears, with the brain, with the mouth slightly open, and with the eyes half-closed. But be willing to turn the music off when people arrive. Or...

Okay:

The question of the hour: Should I get all my hair chopped off? Again? The idea was to let it grow out, but I was just browsing through some photos of celebrities with fabulous short hair, and I am unconvinced that this growing business is the thing for me just yet. It does seem a shame to waste all the effort gone through so far. For those of you who have NOT seen my hair lately... you are lucky. Blessed. Shined upon. And all this ugliness for nothing? Perhaps.... update: Gone. All of it. I have no stamina for bad hair. Photos to come? Probably not. Arrange a visit.

I try not to post more than once in a day, but I finally saw the film Atonement this afternoon, and it bears blogging. I have developed a bad habit with movies that I know beforehand will be emotionally strenuous. If I even suspect a film of being serious enough to make me cry - a quality I once found almost essential in a good film (I was a melodramatic child) - I get nervous beforehand. I think this began when I saw Dancer in the Dark , a film ... .. I won't bother trying to describe it or its effects. Anyway, I get nervous now. It is better if I go to see it in a theatre, because the process of buying a ticket and wading through the previews reminds me that it is an event. The roll of the credits at the end, the slow walk out of the building, and the mindless drive home all serve to draw me back out of the story and into the world. Not so in my living room. How can I just drop the disc into the machine, curl up on the couch, watch the thing, and then stand back up again like ev...

I saw this on one of my favourite tumblelogs and thought I would pass it on, hoping it will lose none of its charm third-hand. It originally comes from the website Wooster Collective, which I will not attempt to advertise, but will simply direct you to .

Of all the things that have faded from my life, how many of the losses were my own fault? Which would have remained had I been more persistent, or even faithful? and which would have passed regardless of me?

i thank You God for most this amazing day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes (i who have died am alive again today, and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth day of life and love and wings:and of the gay great happening illimitably earth) how should tasting touching hearing seeing breathing any-lifted from the no of all nothing-human merely being doubt unimaginable You? (now the ears of my ears awake and now the eyes of my eyes are opened) - e. e. cummings

Not less than a millennium Has heard the hue and cry Of the scattered people of God crying Out to the dark heights. Now more than a millennium Has passed. Remembering, Still I beg with promises and flattering (as though it is not already done): Yeshua yeshua come down Oh, come down And make of our sinning an unholy crown And wear it and bear it Where we have no will But to nail and embed it With unholy skill. I’ll awaken the watchmen Alert the high crier Between garden walls And the city’s high spires Where statues rise up with cold cuddleless faces Where pedants and peddlers take their various places From the castle’s closed rooms To the cold catacombs In the wombs of the walls Where the bones are all sleeping I’ll beat out the baritoned sheeps’ gentle bleating ‘tween benjamin’s gate and the boards of the bridges That span the great gorge breaking earth’s trampled business And there in the corners And there in the caverns Inside the squares and the tucked away taverns I’ll advertise y...