I don't keep this journal only for myself. This can be discerned by the manner in which I compose with the viewpoint of a non-acquaintance in mind - the better to intrigue. The journal is also a convenient way to keep the few LJ friends I have updated. But I feel it could be more vibrant. So I ask you, dear reader, to give your input on how the ( Read more... )

I'M GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!!!

Sometime this year, for the first time in my life, I started gaining weight without effort.  I first noticed a change when warm weather came and I pulled on my shorts,  then noticed that maybe I didn't need a belt after all.  Then people started commenting that I was putting on weight and it looked good.  Then I noticed a little more of a pinch in ( Read more... )

When one is sick, one strives to get well;
When one is well, one...

Recently a friend asked me what my religious beliefs were, and I answered, "well, I attend a Lutheran church," which was a pretty poor and revealing answer.  The truth is I believe in God more emotionally than intellectually.  Intellectually I am extremely skeptical of the normal interpretation of miracles, ascensions, and resurrections spoken of ( Read more... )

Next door neighbors foreclosed several months ago and moved away leaving behind their old, gray tabby.  However, one of them, the son, untrustworthy and generally disreputable, remained illegally until just recently.  Since then, their cat has been poking around the front of our house and even lounging, as if it had nothing left.  Generally ( Read more... )

I am a monthly doner to Greenpeace, but up until a few seconds ago was never anything more: I looked upon their numerous emails announcing letter-writing campaigns for and against this or that cause as a nuisance, and finally ended up automatically deleating them whenever they came.  Admittedly there was shame on my part for doing nothing more than ( Read more... )

A skunk, and then a ying-yang cat cross my path within four blocks on the road home tonight from Grandparents' in Pleasant Hill.

Tonight's entry, my first in 10 weeks I am told, comes conveniently via an email I wrote earlier today to Princess regarding her upcoming church wedding.  It is slightly edited, but for those of you who, like me, are mad ( Read more... )

Cutely, today Princess and her lately-dubbed Prince Charming celebrated their one-week anniversary.  He had remembered (a triumph for our sex!) and secretly planned an evening out at the fanciest restaurant in town.  They are now exceedingly full and satisfied.  Next up : the one-month anniversary ( Read more... )

La vraie pauvreté est celle de l'âme, une pauvreté dans laquelle le mental est
toujours dans un tourbillon créé par les doutes, les soucis et les craintes.

--Swâmi Râmdâs

Real poverty is that of the soul, a poverty in which the mental is forever a
whirlwind, created by doubts, worries, and fears.

--Swâmi Râmdâs