the art of settling

I am embarrassed and a little wordless now that I have sat down to (finally) update this dag-nabbed thing. Not wordless because I'm naturally wordless or because my experience leaves me at a lack of words, but because I think I've become a little dumber over the last few months. It's been a refreshing state of dumb, however - I've given my brain muscles a little rest after running the marathon that is Calvin+Oxford. Now I'm slowly learning that there are types of intelligence that don't involve Wittgensteinian linguistic theory or bio-metaphysics (I actually think I just made that last one up) - like, for example, knowing how to sit quietly and just be. Or knowing how to not make to-do lists for every dimension of one's life. Or knowing how to get up early in the morning and actully enjoy it. In these regards, nuns are brilliant in ways that Wittgenstein might never have been.

I feel like I've already been here for years, that it still hasn't sunk in how drastically my life has changed over the last six months. It's just that I'm so connected already - connected to my coworkers, in and outside of work; connected to that e'er moving ebb and flow that is church life; heck, I'm even connected to the local birding club. Life is good, and still a little shocking. I have yet to find out why I'm here.

So, for the juicy stuff, here are some statistics about life right now:

- I work as an editorial administrator at Christianity Today Int'l, in its online publishing department. Currently, I work the most with this and this website.

- The job is great, except when my job entails making paperclip runs.

- I like my coworkers, except when I feel like I should be a better evangelical.

- I think I really am an evangelical at the end of the day, but I also like liturgy, mystics, and smells 'n bells. BAH to labels.

- I have no boyfriend; I'm barely aware of boys' existence; I'm still considering the nunnery.

- Are there such things as evangelical nuns?

- I am trying to grow three plants; two have been successful.

- I go birdwatching two or three times each week, though the birding season is quieting down, and the weather's too damn hot to enjoy the occasional fly-by. Chicago-area lifers have included a black-crowned night heron, a baltimore oriole, a chestnut-sided warbler, a great-crested flycatcher, and a double-crested cormorant.

- I am constantly imspired to embark on craft projects, and am constantly aware of my lack of artistic knack.

- I am infatuated with the movie theatre down the street.

- I go to a women's Bible study every Tuesday, where we learn about how human and yet totally baffling the Old Testament can be.

- I like having people over to eat or to stay overnight, and anyone who reads this is welcome to come visit for a weekend.

Here's what to expect when you come: