Two Things...

So, whew. This has been a really busy last few days, but damn, I have been productive! 2 papers knocked out, 90% of my reading, several errands/non-school tasks accomplished... I've done stuff that I have been meaning to do for months! I'm feeling motivated for some reason, so why shouldn't my blogging life also benefit?

Anyway, within all of this good cheer for motivation and productivity, there are two things that need to be voiced. First of all, on Sunday afternoon, I was having lunch with a good friend of mine after church and we were sitting outside talking about various church things: the sermon, a class he is taking on adaptive church leadership, UCC issues, upcoming worship services, etc. Well as we are having a lovely conversation, the table behind us decided they want to join in. More the merrier is what I say... usually. This young lady decided that as she left, she would share a bit of her wisdom with us. As my friend commented that he would be needing to come up with a sermon for next week, she (rudely) added "So when you preach next week will you be preaching about Jesus or this other church bullshit".... I was stunned. I had no frame of reference as to who this person was, and I found out later that neither did my friend. He responded by continuing on in our conversation, more or less ignoring her comment. But I was certainly confused. Was she frustrated by our talk about church before? Was there some ideological difference she had? Was she concerned my friend was unaware of the general content that goes into a Christian sermon? Anyway, I was left with lots of questions, and not really sure what to say. So, to that young lady, your comment failed to get across your point. I would love to hear your ideas, but you have to ask politely to join in the conversation first and leave time for follow-up questions. That's just common courtesy.

Second, I am offended by people that take more that 45 seconds at the Taco Bell drive-thru. Granted, sometimes it is not under your control. You may be waiting for the staff to serve you. You may have unruly friends that special order and are indecisive. I get that. But seriously. You went to Taco Bell for a reason. They have food you enjoy. You chose the drive-thru because you feel comfortable enough with the menu to continue to use your gas while you are deciding on your food. I would assume this means you are fairly confident that this will not take very long, or you have too much money and love spending it on gas... Either way, the point is is that you should really not be doing too much starry-eyed gazing at the TB menu when you are on drive-thru time. Yes, the menu looks lovely with all the choices illuminated in front of glowing florescent light and bug carcasses sitting in between the menu and the plastic protective shields, I understand, I feel the same way. But have some respect for me as the driver behind you. I'm hungry, and I have limited money/time: I'm ordering exclusively off the dollar menu and I hate wasting gas while idling... So I promise I will never ever take more than 45 seconds to order, if you promise to keep your special-ordering friends out of the drive-thru lane and to never, ever get in line without at least an outline of your potential TB meal.

I know I said two things, but breaking news... I just killed a HUGE cockroach/beetle thing in my bathroom... seriously, it was pushing 3 inches long... GROSS! Ugh. Where do these things come from? All by themselves? I'm... I'm just not sure how well I'm going to sleep... but I must. OK, thanks and goodnight!

Dispatches from GIMS

BLOG! I've returned! Did you miss me? Oh don't say that, of course I missed you. But in honesty, I almost forgot the password to log into you! But regardless, I'm here and we're happy.

I was re-reading my own blog a few days ago as a measure to stave off the boredom that is "complete and total homework overload", and I realized I like looking back on all of my thoughts and events, even if some were quite pedantic.

So, I will do my best to post up blogs that are mundane, but will be awesome in, like, 2 years. I hear what you're saying: yes, this does mean that my blog is not about entertaining others and gratifying me... but, come on, isn't all blogging a little bit self-indulgent? Let's at least name that...

Anyway, I'm stuck here in GIMS, Government Information and Media Services, in the Vandy library. It's not a bad job, in fact, it's a fine job. I get lots of time to do homework and nostalgically review blog posts! But the customers are less than appealing... in fact, sometimes, they are downright rude. I think undergrads have a way of getting under my skin because they carry themselves as if they know a lot of stuff and all of their requests are either vague or giggle-inducing (note to self: when checking out videos, it is not O.K. to carry on inside jokes while attempting to include the waitstaff, nor is it acceptable to ask questions of the waitstaff simply to fulfill your own, dumb punchlines and giggle amongst your friends)

Tonight, I have only had a few mildly unfortunate encounters with such people, but next time the tragedy of interaction occurs, you will be the first to know...

One final point before I leave this return marathon to go back to reading for class, there needs to be some guidelines laid out on sidewalk etiquette. Young and old, crossing all social locations and boundaries, people just don't seem to get it. There needs to be space so people going opposite directions don't have to leave the safety of the walkway for the street or be smashed against the building or greenery. This means if you are walked two, or three, abreast, you need to file behind or in front of the other members of your party in order to make room for oncoming walkers... In other words, it's not O.K. to keep on keepin' on, while you make people choose between shoulder checking a stranger and stepping into the path of the Fedex truck. It's not a complex idea, but strangely almost no one understands. So people who walk on 21st Avenue, I implore you, I beg you: Look 20 feet in front of you, assess the oncoming walkers, and move accordingly. That's all.

Well, I want to be back. I may be back. I hope I'm back... And I hope you are too!