Sanity Bakery

In order to have a creative outlet and earn a little to help with my tuition, I started an Etsy shop–Philologia.etsy.com. I have one item listed so far, a “cheer journal”. 

Front cover

And here’s why it’s a CHEER journal:

Inside cover

In case you can’t read it, the inscription reads, “Tribulations will come your way but be of GOOD CHEER: I have overcome the world. Jn. 16:33.”

That is the verse I live by. The reason I made the journal was that I’d had a terrible week, I’m having difficulty remembering to live by John 16:33, and my favorite necklace broke–you know, the one I’d worn every day for the last third of my life, the one given to me by my childhood best friend, the one I used to hang a pendant of the Theotokos…yeah, that’s what I mean by favorite. I thought I would cry.

But in a way I’m glad. I got to create something beautiful, something healing, and someone lucky will get a beautiful journal. 

If this seems like the right journal for you or someone you love, it’s $12 plus shipping at Philologia.etsy.com. Someday I’ll make these just to give away, but for now I have to pay for college somehow!

1989 Buick Reatta for sale, more details available at http://forums.aaca.org/ubbthreads.php/topics/551209/89_Black_Coupe_will_take_best_#Post551209.

Here’s another view:

Here’s a third view:

Here’s the rear of the car:

And the front:

Here’s a close-up of the scratch from a poorly-done towing job:

Here’s the antenna; the longer piece can easily be re-attached:

Here’s a picture showing a little bit of rust on the car:

And here’s a picture of the trunk, which has a problem with the lock but opens easily when you press the “trunk open” button inside:

Thanks, and as always email me at veggie1 (at) gmail.com if you’re interested.

Seriously.

New blog, spiritual focus: thedogatemyprayerrope.wordpress.com

About time!

If you notice Google ads along the page, it’s because I need to make some money. I spent the whole contents of my wallet in the church bookstore, because that’s just the kind of fool I am. (And I’m happy about my purchases, with no buyer’s regret at all.)

Some days it seems like there’s a raincloud hanging over everybody and I’m the only one with an umbrella–and the damned thing is too small for me to successsfully hold over other people. 

One of my friends has stopped talking to me, stopped spending time with me, because she’s depressed and…well, the simplest way to explain is that she and I used to watch Veronica Mars, and now she needs people around her who can watch and appreciate Brideshead Revisited. To put it another way, it bothers her that I search for sunshine in the middle of a torrential downpour.

I’m fine–life’s actually going pretty wonderfully for me–but it’s so stressful to be here at times, when there are days when I can’t think of a single person on our floor who’s NOT having a hard time.

There’s always someone around here whose life is crumbling. Usually there are several someones, possibly even a majority of Shimer. Even TechNews had an opinion article titled Dark Cloud Looms over IIT. It was written by Jeff Mira. He said,

“I thought it might have been my own unfortunate occurences over the semester thatmade me think things were wrong, but as I looked around I noticed that the campus was filled with depressing emotions….I am friends with people in many different majors and I have noticed that at this point everyone seems to be having trouble with something or another. Never have I seen so many people so sad and confused. It is as if this dark cloud is looming over the campus, making people feel miserable. I like to think that there is always a silver lining in everything, but it is very hard to do with what I am seeing….The only words of advice I have for everyone is that life has just begun, we are still young and there is so much out there for us. Whether it is something we want or something unexpected, life is a mystery….Remember, each day is different. There are good days and there are bad days. Don’t let a couple of bad days ruin a perfectly good life. Cheer up Illinois Tech, the wind is picking up and the cloud will soon move away.”

I sure hope so. 

And I wish the umbrella were bigger.

His dignity.

I just stopped myself from typing “severely retarded people” in a comment on the FHOTD discussion, backspaced, and typed “people with severe retardation” instead.

I’m thinking about a career in community organizing! I even voted Democrat. Marjorie Hayden Strait would be so damn proud. 

Heaven help me. (I’m not joking.)

I spent the weekend back in Iowa with my boyfriend, who has impeccable taste in music. By impeccable, of course, I mean lively, varied, and fantastic–think the Beatles, Kingston Trio, most classic rock, and…

Play That Funky Music White Boy. That’s right, Wild Cherry’s 1976 hit.

So today, of course, I had it horribly stuck in my head. And, to prevent me from dancing to inaudible music during my work study, I had my boss play it on her computer. Ohh, yeah.

80’s Mondays were born.