Jul 31 2006

When Good Organization Goes Bad

Category: Uncategorized — Lindsay @ 9:40 pm

You all know how addicted I am to organization. If you have to have an addiction, that is among the best. When I was working on this site, I had lots of related bits and pieces that I needed to remember to add or post. I just now found parts of an entry I meant to put up about a week ago. So I’m going to post it now.

In reading HP4GU, a very prolific poster, Astarte, mentioned a theory that’s come up before. I always chalked CapsLock!Harry up to being a fifteen-year-old boy. Having never been one, that’s almost entirely conjecture, but it was good enough for me. As Astarte said, someone on the list suggested his irrationality might have been due to Voldemort’s infringing on his mind throughout the book. It also explains why he suddenly got his grip on reality back in HBP without much transition. That makes perfect sense. Darnit, I need to start on my reread soon before school starts strangling me again.

At BustedHalo this week [edit: last week] is an interview with Cathleen Falsani, a Chicago Sun Times religion columnist. She recently wrote a book full of interviews with celebrities about faith and religion, the culmination of her reporter’s work that earned her the nickname “God Girl.” BustedHalo did an interview worth reading. The point of her book, as she explained, is to show that celebrities, like ordinary people, have their own relationships and struggles with God. What’s more, all of them have dealt with the God question at some point in their lives. It’s a new take on the fact that celebrities are just famous regular people.

You know you have close friends when two of them start IM conversations with cryptic queries. Maura said, “There are string babies,” meaning two string quartet members have new babies. (I was thinking very small instruments or babies playing normal-sized ones.) And Kat said, “I took my boards today,” meaning her nursing exams. That one just took a second of thought.

I just remembered [edit: last week] that I never told you all when you could read my Keystone project. I was concerned about publishing rights if I put it online, and then I’d have to code the whole thing. I have a problem with overuse of italics (and the words “so” and “just”), so that would be a task. But no more of that. I’ve sent it out to several people whom I knew would be interested, but if you didn’t get it, just let me know.

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Jul 30 2006

Contrariwise v.8

Category: WordPress — Lindsay @ 11:06 pm

Welcome to the eighth version of Contrariwise, my personal site and blog. This is the first time I’ve used someone else’s layout in over two years. So, in honor of my upcoming fourth blogiversary, I chose this one: a combination of butterflies (like a layout I made for myself) and purple (like the last predesigned layout I used). Plus, it’s really pretty.

blue butterfly layout, version 5purple layout, version 2

So why didn’t I design my own layout? I switched blogging tools (technically “content management systems”). After four years, it was time to leave Blogger, so I looked for a host and a new CMS. I found Burned Bridges and WordPress. So show my hostess some love. I’ve been posting here for a while already, so read some of other entries if you want to catch up. Take advantage of all the spiffy features WP has: way better comments, better organization, an RSS feed, and the potential for me to have a real site, instead of a blog with other pages hanging around the Internet.

Oh, and if anything goes wrong, just let me know. I may be new at this, but I am not above consulting Lord Google for help.

Jul 30 2006

Not the Answer I Expected

Category: Catholicism — Lindsay @ 5:28 pm

Fr. Bill wrote an article for the Catholic Standard! It’s about Sister Veronica of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, formerly Elizabeth Hartley. She’s a former Terp, and the last female religious vocation to come out of the CSC. The print article included a picture of Sr. Veronica in her Carmelite habit, with Justin the seminarian and Fr. Bill. It was even well-written. Yay for Father Bill.

The article, of course, gets me thinking about vocations. I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m discerning, but most people don’t know that. After Sunday’s Shrine and Dine, I had a small revelation. There was no slip into religious ecstasy or anything like that. I was just thinking, like I always do, and I remembered that, during our conversation at Plato’s, someone mentioned the lack of girls with vocations at the CSC. I was going to mention my own discernment, but then I stopped. So while making my bed that afternoon, I wondered why. All of a sudden, I thought, “Because you wouldn’t be able to explain why.” And that’s the truth: I don’t know why, exactly, I’ve been storming heaven with prayers for discernment.

Part of it is my “someone has to do it” attitude. It’s not a spirit that comes naturally; I have to cultivate it. At one Fiat Dinner, we joked about who among us would “take one for the team” by becoming a sister. Some part of me thinks that I might have to be that girl. So, since Fiat Dinners started in the fall, I’ve been praying about discerning my vocation. If you haven’t noticed, ShoreLines is a vocation newsletter. I learned what it’s like to pray for something for a long time without feeling like you’re getting an answer. (Perhaps I should have also petitioned St. Monica.)

I think I got my answer on Sunday. It was, “You’re not ready to hear the answer yet.” I decided that, instead of focusing so much on discerning, I’m going to focus on growing in faith. That is why I started praying part of the LOTH. (I also chose that because religious are bound to pray it, so I’m getting a head start if that’s my vocation.) That is why I took up my daily Rosary again. That is why I started a 54-day Rosary novena. And someday, I hope that my spiritual growth will mean that I will be able to hear God when He calls to me.

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Jul 29 2006

My Catechetical History

Category: Catholicism — Lindsay @ 9:10 pm

The USCCB is publishing an adult catechism! It sounds like such a great book. I wish it weren’t so expensive, though. I think a decade of The Baby-sitters Club and other mass market paperbacks makes me anti-softcover. If I’m paying $15+ for a book, I feel like it should at least be hardcover. Then again, it’s only a matter of time before I cave and buy Catholicism for Dummies. There’s so much basic info that I missed out on when my mom let me quit CCD. To be fair to her, I really was always difficult to wake up. We never regularly attended Mass until I was in eighth grade, so as far as my late-sleeping seven-year-old self was concerned, she was just being a meanie.

Why did we suddenly start going to Mass? We were living on Spangdahlem AFB, Germany, at the time, and I was approaching Confirmation age. On that particular base, at least (it might have been the whole military archdiocese), you couldn’t be confirmed unless you’d completed the eighth-grade level CCD. My sister was also preparing for First Communion, so it was time for us to start showing up for Mass as well as CCD. It worked out well, though. I had enough experience with Catholicism (and lack of experience with anything else) that I came back to the Catholic Church instead of seeking a new church entirely when I reverted. It was a relatively easy reversion; I didn’t have to renounce anything I’d taken up in the interim. I haven’t looked back since.

From the Missionaries of the Eucharist blog: “The only emergency about Emergency Contraception is the fact that it exists and is able to be accessed to [sic] easily.” Smart bunch, those MOE’s.

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Jul 29 2006

“Mom” Is a Job, Too

Category: Life — Lindsay @ 6:15 am

I’m finally caught up on Boundless and ShoreLines! Woo-hoo! It’s a good feeling to be able to pay attention to the number of unread emails in my inbox again; I’ve been largely ignoring it for months. (I was, for example, only able to notice the spam email dated 1980 (before I was born!) because it was the only unread message there.)

So one of this week’s articles (and really this week, not just the ones I read this week) addressed the issue of stay-at-home moms. A similar issue came up for one of the CDA sisters during Shrine and Dine. Roberto Rivera y Carlos writes the article “Get to Work or Else?” to discuss Linda Hirshman’s essay-turned-book on why the “best educated females” are staying home with their babies, and why that’s unacceptable. To her, I say, “Why?”
Continue reading ““Mom” Is a Job, Too”

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