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quoted: "so...you worked for free to worsen a presentation for a meeting that won't happen for a project that doesn't exist?" -dilmom
point one today: this
article is absolutely preposterous. it's an algorithm! home buyers discriminate against
black and latino neighbourhoods. not zillow.com. absurd.
phew. now that i've got that off my chest, happy halloween, everyone! look at my masterful
use of html. if you say you're not impressed, i don't believe you.
instead of trick-or-treating, tonight i'll be gorging myself on all you can eat sushi.
that's the way i like my halloweens. it's awfully windy today. unlike yesterday,
when i reminisced about autumn in DC, today on my walk to work i reminisced about
columbus day my sophomore year of college, when i was feeling mighty homesick so i
flew home to spokane to surprise la mia famiglia. and i went to see amanda run cross
country. september and october in spokane are so nice. so crisp and autumnal.
walking today, i got a whiff of a wood fire (i think they're banned in london, so
someone's in trouble) but that, too, reminded me of spokae in the fall. now if
only there were a high school football game i could go to.
hmm. i wonder if they show college football on sky in this country.
ok. so i'm rambling. and i should get back to work. catch you on the flip side.
quoted: "actually, she did look a bit like regina george" -recap of 15th birthday party
first off, if anyone has been thinking that there are too few music videos featuring
brutalist architecture, click
here. problem solved!
what makes leaves turn pretty colors in the fall? i don't mean what activates the
process, but what affects the specific colors. is it the soil? the air? the annual
or daily cycle of temperature change? i only ask because i was walking to work
today (yes, it's still the prettiest walk to work ever), and i noticed that the
leaves are falling from trees in st james's park. but they're not going the gorgeous
oranges and reds and browns that i demand from my foliage ca. halloween time. you
know, like the trees upriver from georgetown go. they always made walking
across the potomac on the key bridge such a joy in october and november.
oooho. reminiscence. and bonus reminiscence: 7 years ago tomorrow, my parents came
to visit me at gtown for the first time. and of course they wore stupid nose/mustache
glasses...because it was halloweeen. i miss DC. but i still think joe should
move to seattle.
i won the party friday night. then saturday i went to every furniture store
in central london in search of a table. found one i loved, only to learn
yesterday that there's a 10 week wait for delivery. so i bought a different
table from the same shop, which will be delivered in 12 days. i also
bought a kettle and some wine glasses from M&S yesterday. and hangers from
selfridges. and then ran into jack and pete on bond street.
sunday, i went to mass with matt (hurrah!) and then for delicious four seasons
chinese with andrew, and then bought the table, and then continued the boring
but necessary work of reading my doctoral thesis in anticipation of my defense,
which is approaching rapidly. sigh.
quoted: "this way, you always feel guilty" -marzipan
what a dinner! that really was worth 5 weeks of work. that dinner. two bottles
of wine. steak tartare, steak, potatoes, and some sort of bread and butter
pudding. i was drunk by that point, though, so i don't remember that much of
it. or of 24. but i can say that it was an amazing meal, and i can hardly wait for
the next pay day.
i had other things to say, but i'm swamped at work just now, so it will have
to wait. sigh. and more people should say funny or absurd things near me. please?
quoted: "i woke up and amy was licking my foot with a condom on it." -dottie
for anyone who's counting, there are two months until christmas. hurrah! and i got
paid. i think i got paid too much money. how do i solve this problem? is it a problem.
i'm feeling a little weak in the knees. christmas is coming! it's the summer of the
soul in december, you know. or so the muppets say.
in celebration of first pay check, i'm going to dinner at the wolseley for dinner
tonight with my friend andrew. huzzah! and i had an amazing dinner last night.
double huzzah. my friend jeremy from oxford--one of my favorite people in the
world--is in london for a couple days trying to conquer the world in another
new and interesting way. he's very close to succeeding. so we went to busaba.
and then we ate thai food and talked politics. oh how i love politics. the
same thought crossed my mind at work yesterday when i got to join our
top government relations guy for a meeting. it was great.
ok. my brain is rambling today. i should go.
here's an open letter to the bishops of colorado from my little brother's
blog. (use blogger!). he got in trouble for posting it, so he took it down,
but i think he's right, and i can't get in trouble, so i'm posting it.
To the bishops of Colorado,
As a student at Regis University I was disgusted that it was required of our Liturgist to spread your message of hate, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness. I am very happy to be able to say that I am not a member of one of the dioceses to which this letter was sent, but instead a member of the Spokane Diocese.
While I understand that you, as the shepherd of your people, are there to lead the Catholics of your diocese I do not understand your requiring parishes to spread a message of hate. You are the leader of these people, and you have failed to lead them. With your letter, you have pushed your people, not lead them.
Growing up in a very Catholic family, attending a Catholic grade school, high school, and university I am disgusted. My teachers have always taught me to question. In science, math, religion, history I was taught to question, for when you question, you find the greater truth. Your letter did not ask us to question, but instead to follow blindly.
In my first class of high school my Latin teacher wrote AMDG on the board. He explained that it was latin, and the guiding principle of our school. For the greater glory of God, he explained, we ought to live. Not by what we are told, not by what our friends or family do, not by what our gut says to do, but we should act for the glorification of God.
How ought we to live? A question posed by the mission statement of Regis. Your letter doesn't make a real attempt to ask us this question. In fact your message does not once ask us a question. You are telling us what to do for all but the last paragraph where you instruct the readers to pray.
As the student chapel manager, work study employee for Regis University Ministry, and Peer Minister in the residence halls, I am also disgusted. I was taught that we, as University Ministry, were to accept all just as Jesus did. Jesus ate and drank with lepers, prostitutes and tax collectors, and showed them the error of their ways, but never forced them to change. Jesus taught us to love all.
Attending Jesuit institutions for the last five years, and having a Jesuit uncle, I have always been a fan of St. Ignatius Loyola. I was recently praying late one night to the Loyola statue on campus. As I was about to leave I read one of the plagues at the foot of the statue. The quote of Loyola's read, "For everything has the potential of calling forth in us a deeper response to our life in God. Our only desire and our one choice should be this: I want and I choose what better leads to God's deepening his life in me."
How can we expect Catholics to continue to pray and believe and share the love of our God with others when they leave mass early because they are disgusted with what is being said? At both of today's masses many people left the building after the first few sentences of your letter. They knew that the message to follow was going to be filled with hate not acceptance.
The Catholic Catechism even says, "They [homosexually inclined people] must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition (2358)." It does not say that they are evil people, and cannot have love, but that they have a unique hindrance in their path to God.
We all have our own blockages, hindrances, and obstacles in our path to God. For me, one of those hindrances is my disdain for most people. For others it is not loving all of God's creations. For even others, telling their followers what to do instead of leading them to make their own conclusions is their mistake. For others it is promoting discrimination through opposing SB 081 here in Colorado. For as it was once said, "The worth of a life is not determined by a single failure or a solitary success." We all have obstacles in our spiritual life, but we are still travelers on the road to God.
In my interview to be a Peer Minister I was asked how I, a Catholic, would reach out to others. I sat for a second and then said "Love." The questioning faces of my interviews asked for more to my answer so I continued to explain that the underlying message of all religions is love. Love for other, love for God, and God's love for us.
Hate, bigotry, and close-mindedness was what your letter taught me about the Catholic Church. Your letter did not teach me to love. Your letter did not teach me to accept. Your letter did not teach me to keep an open mind. Your letter did not teach me the good that I can do. Jesus has taught me to love, accept, keep an open mind, and that I can change the world for the better. So I will end with a question. How can you sleep at night knowing that you showed your people the way to hate and not to love, to bigotry, not acceptance, to close-mindedness, not to open-mindedness?
In Christ's love for all his people,
-Robert C. House
quoted: "they're not real monks, you know." -buky katt, on whether it feels not to be flighting chipmunks all the time.
i overthink everything. and that's not a good thing. i went to a very pleasant
choral concert last night at st andrew wardrobe in the city. it was hosted
by the british-slovene society, and the london renaissance singers performed
a selection of songs by thomas tallis (hurrah!) and some very good sixteenth
century slovenian guy whose name escapes me. but it was beautiful. and afterwards
over drinks the churchwardens asked me if i'd be willing to come back in a few
months to give a lecture on the early history of the parish of st ann blackfriars.
which sounds awfully scary.
ran into a chch'er on the strand on my walk home. but forgot that my friend andrew
was doing a recruiting thing at LSE, or i would have stopped and joined him
drinking. then again, when he came to lunch at work today he was molto hung over,
so maybe it's good that i'm rather bright eyed and bushy tailed.
it should be a good weekend. hopefully a relaxed one. five weeks into working life,
and i'm thinking, "isn't term almost over? when is my six week holiday?". SIGH.
quoted: "i really want to buy incontinence pads" -roisin
i have not had a fantastic day. i can't say exactly why. it's too warm in the office today. or something. but i'm feeling not-so-hot. and, therefore, that's all the update i've got for you today.
quoted: "you have more people in your bed in the morning while you are working than anyone i know" -allison d. to my sister (amanda)
today is one month since my first day of work. i feel like i've started to
settle in to my job. maybe. a little bit. some days are busier than others,
of course, and i've found myself surprisingly susceptible to the moods
of my coworkers. they're downright contagious. i guess that's not so bad.
more importantly and sadly today marks nine years since my fried justin
was killed accidentally in a hunting accident. that so much time has passed really
boggles my mind. espcially because when i first started doing daily updates it had
only been three years since justin's death. sigh.
yes, a fifth of my life has been recorded in this stupid website. that's pretty
scary, no? how many hundreds of embarrassing quotes from friends and family does
that come to?
i'm going to try to update every day at work, but i can't promise anything. some
days it just gets real busy and i get caught up in the stream. today i should
be in said stream, but i've stepped out for just a moment.
i had an absolutely wonderful weekend. went out with roisin and dottie friday night
to a club in soho called the player that had overpriced alcohol and a mixture of
disco and funk music. that was great, but saturday was even better. i went with
the two andrews to watch their former 55a housemate alex race her little boat
past hammersmith bridge, after which we went to fulham for what must go down
in history as one of the most enjoyable meals i've ever had. it lasted 3 hours
and left me very close to a food coma.
saturday night i went for dinner with rob's ex rolandas, which was great, and then
had an early night. saturday i went to mass (a rakmaninov mass: brilliant), followed
by buying a sofa at M&S (yay!) that won't be delivered until after thanksgiving (boo!).
that afternoon, my friend nick (whom i like more every time i see him) came over for
too much wine, not enough conversation, and never enough saved!. what's
not to love?
monday after work i managed to sneak in a trip to the gym before going to canela
with roisin, where i managed my 2nd random london run-in since i moved her. this
one was with lucy, the fabulous chch'er slash arts student. definitely a joy to see
her. and last night i had dinner with AB before watching two more episodes of
24. tonight i'm going out with yet another spokanite; this one called my parents
at 4 in the morning to get my UK mobile number. dolt. will reprimand him for
that.
quoted: "he's powered entirely by peanut butter" -coworker ollie, referring to me
i went for a drink with a spokanite last night...my friend angela's younger
brother jon, who was the year between becky and bo at prep. we went to a pub
in shepard's market and reminisced about spokane over a pint. which was a very
pleasant way to spend a thursday evening.
i'm going out dancing tonight with roisin and dottie. i think they're inclined
to dance the night away. i'm inclined to dance the 11 pm away, since at midnight my
coach life turns into a pumpkin.
my parents are flying back to the US today. safe travels! i already miss having you
only one hour time difference away from me. sigh. can't you move to rome
for good? it will all be very portrait of a lady, except dad's not a jerk.
speaking of dad, an excerpt from an email my sister becky sent recently: 'mom and dad,
thanks for the e-card. just to let you know, it was actually sent by "man and dad."
dad, i don't know who this man is that you are with, but i hope he is nice.'
sigh.
quoted: "give me booze" -andrew, when asked to start saying funny things for the reinstated quote of the day
well, day number two of the daily update redux. i walked to work today.
i walk to work most days. even if it's raining. why? because i have the most
beautiful trip to work of anyone in london. really. down the lower part
of regent street, past carlton house terrace and carlton gardens (one of my
favorite sites in all of london is the south aspect of carlton house terrace
in the morning sunshine). then across st james's park, past buckingham palace
(her majesty is back in residence. the royal standard replaced the union jack
above the palace earlier this week) and then on to the less pretty buck palace
road to work. but it's a joy to walk both directions. really really great.
scary news of the day: the date of my viva voce exam has been set. 2.15 pm
on friday, 24 november. so cross your fingers for me that day, and then
call me dr house if all goes well. eek.
i learned today that jess, who sits at the desk right across from me, went
to college with my cousin christine, and knows her well. what a small world
this is.
ps - for the three people on the internet who haven't already seen it...
this
guy is a tool.
quoted: "but i guess it has to be entertainment" -hermione lee
hey hey! still no internet at home, but i've figure out enough of work to
spend a few minutes every day doing updates again. there's far too much to tell
from the past month. work is madcap and wonderful, but i'm scared to death of
screwing up. screwing up at oxford was par for the course, but history
is pretty impermeable to my screw-ups. this working thing seems a bit less so.
sigh.
my flat is good, but still furniture-less. my rent is too high, the water pressure
in the shower is too low, and i haven't figured out how the boiler works yet,
but i'm willing to give all these things time to sort themselves out.
in the past month, two complete strangers have told me i have a wonderful smile
and one complete stranger has mistaken me for a celebrity. these
small miracles stroke my ego more than enough to compensate for my fear of messing
something up massively at work.
i spent last weekend in rome with my parents. it was amazing. the weather was
perfect, the food was great and (as always) seeing them was purely joyful. i just
wish i could have staid with them longer.
fr ribeiro snagged me an invitation to the booker prize awards ceremony
last night. that was quite a treat. quite a treat. and i think the book that won
looks very good.
i'm sure there's a lot more to say, but for now i must return to work. hurrah!
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