April 3
From my brain
Contents |
2008
Me 08:14, 3 April 2008 (EDT)
Sometimes it's good to just be invisible (or nearly invisible). Last night, I spent my time in WoW on my bank alt. Tuesday night, I got Darias a bunch of socketable gear, and so I needs me some gems. My bank toon has been stockpiling gems since before the expansion hit, and so I figured I'd see what all I had on-hand before I went out and bought them all.
It was a mess to go through it all, but I gotta admit...it was relaxing. All I did was sit there at the bank in Stormwind, toggling back and forth to Wowhead, and chatting with Roxyrose and Callistana. No guild drama to speak of. No officer chatter about guild politics. Nothing but a bit of maintenance and a couple of instant message windows.
/happysigh
Me 13:14, 3 April 2008 (EDT)
A bewildering day of mother issues:
- One friend deciding how to gather the courage in life to move away from their mother.
- Another friend trying to brace themself for the impending visit of their mother.
- Another had their mother show up at the office...unannounced.
All of these conversations within a half hour.
/shakeshead
Me 15:42, 3 April 2008 (EDT)
Zejan...I don't know what to say man. I'll pray for you to make it through this...
Me 16:58, 3 April 2008 (EDT)
I'm just not adjusting to the knowledge well. At all. I can't get my head around it. I wanted to come down here in the basement and decompress, but there's too much stuff to do around the house tonight.
I'm not even hungry for dinner at this point, and she's cooked a fabulous meal.
2007
Me 07:41, 3 April 2007 (EDT)
So, last night began my first real week of Holy Week. Sure, I've been Orthodox for well over two (three?) years now, but this is the first time I've been able to participate in all the services of Holy Week. First I was on 2nd shift, and then last year when I switched to first, Wifey was on 2nd and there's no way I'd try to wrangle the kids solo. With Wifey out of an active job right now, we went last night as a family.
Finally in me that whiney little Pentecostal teenager is starting to get quiet. There's so much more to Christianity that I've found since becoming orthodox than I've ever experienced in any other denomination I've visited. Holy Week is no exception.
One thing I noticed very early on in Orthodoxy is that it's not your typical service. There's none of the whoopin, hollerin, jumpin, or hand waivin of my youth. Holy Week -- with the knowledge of what happens during it -- should be a somber event. As Father put it, "Regardless of the fact how we know it ends on Sunday." The services reflect that.
The service for Holy Monday may only be an hour long, but man there are a lot of prayers. Psalms are read. Blessings are asked for and given. The gospel readings have to do with the Parable of the Ten Virgins, calling us all to "be ready". That's the focus of the entire week...preparedness.
As part of this, I had my confession last night. Usually we try to do our confession (to fit into the ideal that you have had a "recent confession" prior to taking communion each Sunday, and in that the Orthodox mean anything within a recent couple months) earlier in the Lenten season. Typically we have vespers on Saturday held once during Lent, but the weekend we were scheduled to do so, Father fell ill and couldn't make it. So last night I had mine while Wifey watched the kids outside.
This is where that Pentecostal kid used to freak out. "This is wrong!" he used to say, "What do you need a priest for? You should be confessing your sins to God, not a priest!" There are far better articles out there on confession than I could really put to eloquent, authoritative words, but suffice it to say, that teenager didn't know what he was talking about.
Just going from the book of James, "Confess your sins one to another", the humility required in confession by standing with a human witness makes you really, truly and honestly ask for forgiveness. All too often we find ourselves just sitting in the car, praying in our living rooms, wherever, "Why, God? Why?" Being able to talk things through with someone a bit more spiritually educated (although still human and fallible) to guide you is...comforting. Truthfully, if more people still talked to their priest, I don't think the psychiatric industry would survive. :)
Anyway, I should probably get back to work. Perhaps more later...
Me 12:39, 3 April 2007 (EDT)
- As we strive to cover every load, make every pick up and delivery on time, fight with the rails, and manage our equipment tighter and better, more and more phone calls are required. This can drive up the noise level on the floor tremendously as employees compete with each other to be heard. Managers and directors, this situation becomes compounded when speaker phones are used on the floor--yes it is convenient, but it can also be disruptive to those around you. Radios also compound the problem.
- I would ask that you be sensitive to the employees around you and refrain from using speaker phones on the floor unless absolutely necessary. Also, please be sure that radio volumes are at a level where they do not cause a disturbance.
This after they move the annoying windbag away. Granted, nosy is still here (and standing behind me...I wonder if she's bold enough to read over my shoulder?), but she's been kinda quiet since I lashed out at her yesterday.
