Svithe

So I've decided that I really haven't spent enough time in the New Testament--specifically in the second part, after the gospels. I need to remedy that, because I reread Paul's epistle to the Romans this morning and I think it might be my new favorite. One of the passages that made me stop and think was in chapter 4. Paul is discussing Abraham,18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, "So shall thy seed be." 19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And being fully persuaded that, what...

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This is what I get for deciding to embrace the fall

I get tomorrow's forecast, which looks like this:Rain/SnowLikelyHi 51FYeah, the weather is on my craplist. That mess ain't even right.Fortunately for me, tomorrow is the start of Banned Books Week, about which I am very excited. I mean, sure, my director decided to leave that same week in what can only be an effort to steal the First Amendment's thunder. But that's okay.Here's what I have on the roster, and I'm glad now that it's a low-key as it is, given everything that's happened since the initial plans were made.We've made pirate-themed displays to go with this year's theme, and we're displaying copies of books from the ALA's 100 Most Frequently...

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Threshold

I'd go to a forest and sit still.After reading Vika's latest blog entry, I realised I need solitude, at the very moment, really badly too. All the people poking around me, talking far too much for anybody's health (what's worse is what they said are not at all constructive) and the noises made by the phone. Someone shouldn't have invented the damn phone. The noises it create are absolutely nerve-whacking, worse than the sound of "Mathematics", anyway. Last but not least, the various absurdities of the humankind and its ugly society.Being such a hopeless nihilist-cum-misanthrope, like yours ghouly, do not see the point of chasing after achieving...

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My first literary endeavor

Theric and Lady Steed have pestered me for years to finally get cracking on a novel. What they don't know is that I already started one.When I was in the 6th grade (so, 12 years old) I decided to write a romance novel. A bodice ripper, to be specific, which was my new favorite genre. This is what happens when you send a voracious and not-yet-discriminating young reader off to babysit at the homes of people who read smut.My novel opened with a scene lifted straight out of Gone with the Wind, which was another favorite at the time. I checked that thing out from the school library, no lie, eleven thousand times during the 5th and 6th grade. My heroine spent the first several pages trying to choose between ball gowns to wear to the big fancy ball that night. Descriptions of "apple-green, watered-silk"...

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And we wonder why women don't feel pretty

Over the weekend I got together with the Circle of Truth (made complete by one of Sakhmet's much-too-rare visits to Utah). It was a fabulous time, of course, hosted by Daltongirl & Family. We stayed up much too late and talked and laughed and got about as smashed as practicing Mormons can (three words: Kahlua chocolate fondue). Also we use lots of Jane Austen quotes without thinking about it, which I'm sure is not pretentious or off-putting at all.I mentioned the Dove Real Women ad campaign, and the video they've produced, which Miss Hass so kindly brought to my attention.I mean, it's not news to us that professional images get worked over. But it's really interesting to watch the process and to see how very far you get from the original. Murray spoke up here, and said that you can pretty...

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Totally reasonable expectations

A week ago a children's book came in to the library that included a small necklace. After making sure no one else was desperate to wear a cheap necklace with a pink-enameled cameo of a little girl's profile on it, I grabbed it for Savvy.I called her that night to give her the news.Me: Hey Savvy, I got you something!Savvy (in the voice of either a sorority sister or a flamboyantly gay male): Oooooh, what iiiis it?Me: It's a necklace.Savvy: Oh my gosh, a necklace!Me: Yes, it's a princess necklace.Savvy: Oh! And a princess dreeeess, and princess shooooes?Me: Um . . . no. It's just the necklace, actually.Savvy (completely deflated and now no longer bothering to even pretend to care): ...

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What rhymes with canker?

If you read my friend Kristen's blog, you may already know about what happened to her last week. Someone didn't like her opinions, and so took it upon himself to find the details of her identity and workplace. Then he called her principal and sent him links of the posts where she vented about work-related things.Now, let's get this straight first. Do Kristen and I always agree? Absolutely not. Sometimes I wonder if she secretly sacrifices puppies to Ann Coulter, and I imagine she rolls her eyes at my bleeding-heart eco-groupie tendencies. But we don't go for each other's throats about it--online or off. This is because we are self-actualized adults who understand that differences of opinion are just part of life.What this guy did is so low and ugly and insecure and childish that I can't even...

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A medley of odd things.

So, it's life after the much-anticipated preliminary exams. Somehow school feels different now, there is a general atmosphere of "Ah great, I have finished the prelims, why am I in school?!".Ignoring that fact, me and Ren Hui met up for lunch, someone whom I hadn't met for a long while, ever since the Mitre Hotel phototaking trip back in May. Yes, we resumed our Subway diet, only to find the price of Cold Cut Trio to have risen, to $4.30. Damn it. Anyhow, we then proceeded to walk aimlessly around City Hall/Esplanade/Clarke Quay/Raffles Place area. Ren Hui introduced to me to the hobby of "tourist-waving". I must say it's a nice thing to do, if I decide to be seen as utterly odd. We then unneccessarily splurged on a tea-break at Starbucks by Singapore River (is it? I'm not too sure.), where...

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With my recent endeavour in one of the world's toughest languages - Icelandic, I shall greet you in Icelandic!Komi'ð þió sæl, min læsi! Hvernig ér þú í dag? Én einn leiðinlegur Laugardagur hádegi sig!The above basically means; "Hello to all, my readers! How are you today? It is one boring Saturday noon!"Phew, that took me alot of energy.Otherwise, yes, today has been boring.I should get out, soon.Já! Ég elska þú, Nick! Hehe....

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Man-candy Thursday

Sorry you had to wait so long for this post. And sorry that most of the male readership won't consider the wait worth it. But oh well. I have estrogen. Deal with it.For those of my friends who have not discovered James McAvoy (pronounced MAC-uh-voy), it's time you get on that.I first noticed him in Chronicles of Narnia, wherein I couldn't help taking more than a passing notice of Mr. Tumnus. Which worried me a little bit, and made me wonder if it's right to be attracted to a goat. Only come on! He was sweet and brave and cute and he believes in a Free Narnia, people!And then he started cropping up in all kinds of places, it seemed. He played...

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Have found new meaning in life

Always a good thing, non? Remember that one time when I sat through a Relief Society lesson about how it's important to be self-sufficient and to can peaches?Here were my questions:What's up with canning and all that? Why should we do it? If I already have a year's supply of peaches from Costco then shouldn't I be good? Why on this sweet earth should I spend a Saturday up to my elbows in sticky nastiness just to give myself botulism? I mean, if you like to do those things and you like knowing where your food comes from and it gives you a feeling of satisfaction, then that's wonderful and I say more power to you. But what if you just don't care?So...

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University of Florida student Tasered at Kerry forum

If there's no more free speech even in the liberal states of America, then the world is doomed. Sigh....

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The result of boredom.

So yes, I am bored, not to the point of death, but enough to push me to do this little open ended Q&A. If you do not wish to read a whole pile of facts and answers then feel you have wasted 5 minutes of your worth(less) life, you have exactly 10 seconds to find your towel and leave the Earth. Starting. From. Now.Ok! I can now fully assume you are ready to stare into the screen and receive light wavelengths from the computer screen.Here it goes;The person who tagged you is: Mister Jaspas HimselfYour relationship with her (it's a him, by the way): Flourish buddy, accomplice in crime.Your 5 impressions of her (Him, god damn it): Crazy insane or insane crazy, could be profound sometimes, a real pleasure to chat flourish and all the other things about life with him.The most memorable thing...

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Well hey, you could always ride my scooter, crash it, and have the bar rape your butt

My sister Spitfire has quite the way of putting things into perspective. Not that, you know, that happened to her on Friday or anything.I was venting a tiny bit to her last night and her response, as faithfully transcribed in the title, just about made me hyperventilate. Also I'm laughing to think of the kind of Google hits I'm going to get now, between that header and the Mormons Exposed thing--which, let's be honest, is probably going to be more appealing to gay men than to straight women. Hope that's what y'all had in mind, Elders.Anyway. Now I can talk about the Developments About Which I Could Not Speak Earlier. Last week my director called me in and told me she was leaving the library. She has accepted a job offer in another state and is leaving in a couple of weeks. Felt like I'd been...

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Bailing today

Sorry, everyone. I promise next week I'll be back up to par!If you do want to get your dander up, you can go check out the MSN video mentioned yesterday by Science Teacher Mommy. It's about a bunch of Mormon guys home from their missions who decided that a good idea would be to wax their chests, apply some makeup to their abs, and pose for some "Mormons Exposed" calendar. You know, to show the world that Mormons are just like everyone else.I think this is a touch misguided. After all, people who think we have horns don't think they grow out of our nipples. Shaving their heads might have done more to clear up any misconceptions the general public make have.There's even a website, and the whole thing just makes me shake my head in disbelief. For an extra kick in the pants, go read what the...

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Crazy Thursday

It's a crazy day at work, due in part to Developments About Which I May Not Yet Speak. Sadly, these developments do not involve hot British men. They so seldom do, which I find really quite frustrating and against what is right.To deal with the Developments, I went out with Spitfire and spent money and ingested masses of ice cream.Clinique is running its Clinique Bonus promotion, where if you spend $21.50 you get the bag of goodies. I bought the All About Eyes Cream as part of my ongoing mission to stave off crone-eyes, infertility, and ultimately Cheat Death Itself.Anyway, the bonus package includes a cute makeup bag (which I did actually need),...

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I am giving up the chance to watch David Copperfield live in November, just to save the money for any future metal gigs here.So, come on and get Rammstein/Ensiferum/Immortal/Satyricon/Pain here, plea...

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Wherein I had my first deep-fried Snickers bar

Had a grand time at the Utah State Fair yesterday. I went down with Spitfire and her bf-who-does-not-yet-have-a-blog-name, and we met up with Jen & Co. Cicada and Murray also joined us.Savvy is a real chicken, but she felt safe petting the goats, I think. She made sure to pick as her petting targets the big ones who were lying on their sides, not looking at her, and preferably asleep or unconscious.Cicada was a big hit with the goats, who all wanted to snuggle up to her and love her the most and go home with her. I dubbed her Goat Whisperer.And really, those goats were pretty much the cutest things ever. They're supposed to make great pets...

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I love it when people are reasonable

So this morning I dragged myself to work a whole two hours early (before you start getting out your violins, I normally don't go in until 10am) so that I could do an online training session for the filling in of the state's annual statistical library report thingies.When the moderator and I got online we realized that I was the only one who'd shown up for this two-hour training. Crossing fingers, I said that I'd really only brought a couple of questions so I didn't know how helpful it would be for me to receive the entire presentation. And he, bless him, said we could just go ahead and do my questions and call it good.Now, this is a guy who...

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You did ask

So you may remember that I kind of trashed on the preview & promotional material for that film Anxiously Engaged (previously released as Picadilly Cowboy), which is currently being marketed mostly to LDS audiences. And then the director pretty much asked me to watch it and say what I think. So I watched it. If you want the short version of the review, go ahead and read Desmama's.Young buck Carson Wells (Jaelan Petrie) is this LDS Montana cowboy working in London for a beef company. The film opens with shots of him being all cowboyish and bad-hair-having and different from the dour Londoners around him. He proposes to Lucy (Kate Foster-Barnes), his English girlfriend of two months. She says yes and takes him home to meet her grandfather & ask for his blessing. Grandfather (James Green),...

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Not that I'm cheap, mind you

But the fact that money has left my cold, brittle, dead hands to upgrade me from a free to a paid Flickr account means I love you people. And it means that I can now start putting all the England and food pictures I want up there. Huzzah!Of course, doing this makes me miss England. A lot. So much that the only cure really is to go watch my new birthday copy of North and South some more. Of course, I name that as my cure for lots of things, including PMS, allergies, and corns.BUT. Yesterday was good, because it was the first step in my Secret New Plan. I figure if I can't live in England, I can at least get all my English friends to come live near me. And one of them has! Neener! Last night was mine and Desmama's book group, with the newest member being the lovely Sian from Loughborough, who...

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Die Irae

I finally did something....

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Sweet Shiva

...

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Miss Teen USA 2007 - South Carolina answers a question

This is what I define as an true-blue idiot....

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Back to our regularly scheduled brain-exploding

So. My Relief Society lesson on Sunday was well-meant but rather silly. The woman who taught it (the Stake President's wife) was not silly but was very sweet, even if she did give me the stink-eye when I made a joke during class. Trust me, my joke was awesome. The lesson was on dating--specifically on why the boys aren't doing more of it (she went and asked them, much in the manner of that girl in elementary school who delivered the notes between would-be lovers with the "check yes or no" boxes on them). We learned that young LDS men don't date because they feel pressure, are afraid of rejection, and that they're looking for a nice girl with a sense of humor. It was a pretty ground-breaking hour.However, I soon found out that it could have been much, much worse. While chatting with a friend...

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Yay, birthdays!

So far today has been absolutely lovely. On the drive to work that song LDN by Lilly Allen came on, with the chorus about "the sun is in the sky oh why oh why would I wanna be anywhere else" that has the kicky trumpets behind it. And, even though my feelings for Lilly Allen still stand (Ear. Fork. All of it.) I did enjoy the song. Because hey, the sun was in the sky and it's my birthday. And I think I had a seizure anyway when she said the word "Tesco" so I missed quite a lot of her actual voice--just got to enjoy the fun, kicky trumpet chorus.(Note: If you choose to watch this video, I will not be held responsible for seizures or forks in the ear.)Got this meme from Kristen and decided to do it for my birthday.Today in history, according to Wikipedia:1666 - Great Fire of London ends: A large...

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"Om Namo Buddha Maha"As I await the reunciati...

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Story #1 from the weekend

I'm going to have to separate these, because there is so very much to tell. You can see some pics of the Bday weekend on my sister's blog.First story is that once I got back from Provo I cleaned out the, no lie, 800 million emails in my box. I've starred the ones I need to reply to, I've sorted out my folders, I am now the email inbox dominatrix.Remember the post I wrote last week about that LDS movie that I thought looked really stupid and had a ridiculous premise? Yesterday morning, during the Gmail domination, I found an email from the film's director.Yeah.Here is what it said.Hello Miss Nemesis, It was great to read your insights on my film. I look forward to reading what you have to say about the film once you've seen it. Good or bad.Best, TylerSo . . . that was unexpected. And I possibly...

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RadioNIHIL

After being many months as an avid reader of ANUS.com, only now did I found out about their online radioshow - RadioNIHIL, I have got to confess, it is probably the best fucking radioshow ever.Great discussions of nihilism, wordly issues, religion, philosophy, music and arts, what a great embodiment of elements. They play great music too, including the great Dissection, with no commericals and bullcrap. Perfect.I'm going to listen to all of it n...

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