Should have stayed in bed...

Today is going to be one of those days. I can tell. I know it's Tuesday, but it's worthy of a Monday.

The snow is dumping down, and we had a whole pile overnight. Heavy, wet, spring snow, that's nasty to be out walking in.

Someone broke my photocopier yesterday. The tech guy came and fixed it, but it broke again this morning, in exactly the same place, plus some new and crazy thing. I'm waiting for another tech guy.

I'm feeling kind of lousy - stiff muscles, queasy stomach, and sleepy.

I should have gone with my initial instinct upon waking this morning, and stayed firmly curled up in my nice warm bed!

Another article to read...

In my ongoing struggle with questions over war vs. peace and so on, I came across this article on TIME magazine this morning. Since most of you know that I also have a strong interest in mental health issues (due to my own background, and the growing awareness that various friends have brought), you won't be surprised that the findings of the article are disturbing to me. Particularly when you consider that the age group the increased rates of mental illness caused by time at war is most dramatically affecting are those who are my peers.

Anyway, give it a read and let me know what you think!

Amusing Headline

"Ant Infestation Tests Non-violence of Buddhist Monks in Malaysian Temple"

It made me chuckle a little. While I definitely feel non-violence is a good option for behavior towards other humans, I don't think my committment extends to poisonous stinging ants!

Pasta and Chocolate

I had somewhat of a frustrating evening, long, and, because of the exhaustion from last night's lack of sleep, emotional.

I made a quick trip to the grocery store tonight, and, while contemplating what to pack for lunches this week, spotted some pasta that drew my attention (spinach and cheese ravioli). A quick trip to the aisle with sauces, picked up some sun-dried tomato pesto, and at the check-out stand a Kit-Kat bar, and headed for home. Some quick cooking left me with a satisfying meal, so I pulled on my pygamas, curled up in my chair with the plate of pasta, and watched an episode of Gray's Anatomy on my laptop.

This was exactly what was needed, for I had hit the point in exhaustion where everything makes me want to cry, and I needed the quiet, the rich food, the chocolate, and the little bit of melodrama to relax my brain and chill out for a while.

And, with that, I'm off to bed. I'm tired, work promises to continue at a dizzying pace this week, and I'd like to read a bit before making yet another attempt at sleep (with prayer first this time!) See you all tomorrow or the next day!

The price of a re-learned lesson

(wrote this before church this morning)

Did you ever have one of those lessons that you keep having to learn over and over, even though it should have become obvious by this point, because it affects a central area of your daily life?

I was reminded of one of those again last night.

I went to an evening of worship put on by some friends last night, out for drinks with them afterwards, and then home to bed. Thanks to the time change, I was already short an hour of sleep.

Here’s the lesson: I forgot (again!) to pray God’s protection over my mind as I slept. Not a good mistake to make, especially after I’ve engaged in worship, and my spiritual awareness is heightened.

This time I paid the price and only got about 3-4 hours of sleep. Thanks to the combination of daylight savings, waking up every hour or so, and three consectutive versions of the same nightmare, stacked one on top of the other with slight variations to create variety, I am now sitting on the back row of church, watching the worship team set up and begin to practice for the service, and wondering how I’m going to keep my eyes open for the rest of the day. (And can I just say that if scientists and screenwriters could find a way to tap into my brain as I sleep, they could write some serious blockbuster style action-adventure dramas! And people wonder why I don’t watch many of that style of movie – why feed the fire? I come up with enough scary images all on my own!)

Let me just say that I WILL be praying protection over my mind tonight before I go to sleep!