Reflections on the year

As 2008 slips on by, with me way behind on other people's blogs, I did find a minute to spot-check my Bloglines account today. One of the blogs I checked was Diane's, and it is from her that I hereby blatantly steal the idea for this post.

She put her reflections in 3 categories: Memorable, Disappointing, and Ambivalent. I'm not ambivalent about "ambivalent," but I am about the other two, so I'm changing their names.

Joyful:
1. Attending the RevGalBlogPals Big Event 1.0, and looking forward to 2.0 this spring.
2. Our church finally completing its new building and making the long, long move across the field from the building we'd already sold.
3. Being able to provide a home to Tuesday the dog, when the timing was so right it just couldn't be denied.
4. Getting opportunities to work with new people in my same job.

Sorrowful:
1. The death of my sweet girl, The Best Dog Ever, Cub. But thankful for the outpouring of sympathy, even from people I've never met.
2. The deaths of two clergy friends, one anticipated, one unexpected. Each of their absences leaves a hole.

Ambivalent:
1. United Methodist General Conference. As a rookie delegate, I'm still trying to figure out what I learned, and what kind of difference it made that I was there. I don't believe all of my time there was wasted, but I struggle with the apparent necessity of navigating tons of bureaucracy in the hopes of doing at least some good.
2. Deciding, discerning, which opportunities required a yes and which required a no.
3. Reacting to my sister's and my brother-in-law's deteriorating health. Not being sure if I've always made the right call. Trying to maintain healthy boundaries in these situations as we decide how to help.
4. Tiptoeing into other forms of social media. I got two more Facebook invitations today, both from family members, and I'm still not planning to join. On the other hand, Twitter is kinda nifty. On the other other hand, finding out through Twitter that a friend has just died is kinda odd. On the other other other hand, I got ReTweeted a couple of times yesterday, which I liked.

Time to get my new chair's slipcover out of its dye bath in the washing machine. We shall see whether the result of this experiment lands in Joyful, Sorrowful, or Ambivalent... tune in next time...

Tagged: Seven Random Things

Melissa tagged me back on Wednesday for the Seven Random Things meme... here we go:

Here are the rules:
Post the rules on your blog.
Write 7 random things about yourself.
Tag 7 people at the end of your post. Pass on the tag.

1. I won't get to meet my maid of honor's boyfriend this weekend after all -- because he's not her boyfriend anymore. He's now her fiancee! Way cool!

2. I'm standing at my kitchen counter blogging this, because I know I'm going to have to sit down for at least 7 hours today.

3. Tonight I'll be at the site of my first job (where I refilled tea and water and bussed tables) for my nephew's rehearsal dinner.

4. I'm going to miss my dogs all weekend, but they will be properly spoiled by a dear friend who is moving in with them until Sunday. I've never boarded a dog at a kennel.

5. My personal email account is currently using up 57% of the available storage space. And this is after weeding things out a little. I am an email pack-rat.

6. I'm not sure where I'm spending Saturday night.

7. I still need to pack and change the sheets on our bed for our dogsitter.

Not tagging anyone because I'm pretty sure I'm the last person to have played this, but if you do decide to play, let me know!

Meme time

I had no idea that SisterFilms read my blog. But I do now, because she de-lurked and tagged me! Hi, SisterFilms!

Here are the rules:

1. List these rules on your blog.

2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog.

1. I should be drying my hair and doing other getting-ready-for-work things right now. The ceiling fan is doing its best on the hair...

2. A friend recently sent me a link to some dialects of my home state. I took one tiny linguistics workshop a very long time ago, and I remain enthralled at the differences in communities, even now that we're such a mobile and media-driven society. (Is it "barbed wire" or "bobwar"?)

3. Sometimes I feel like the only English major out there who doesn't really care for Shakespeare all that much. Anyone else?

4. This meme wouldn't be complete without a dog reference. The Boy jumped off the back of the couch Tuesday night and pulled something in his left hindquarter area. He hollered for a minute. It was scary. I'm still a little worried about him, but he's getting around just fine and one of my friends says it's happened to her dog before. Nothing looks swollen or out of place, and he doesn't seem to be hurting, so we're just keeping an eye on him.

5. I wonder how many people would keep a cold pack on their dog's hindquarters for 20 minutes after such an occurrence. I think our household might be in the minority there.

6. I'm being taken to a schmancy restaurant this Saturday night. Something about being married for a dozen years or some such. Oddly, one of my favorite things about this steak joint is... their Steakhouse Salad.

7. I don't watch much TV, but I'm hooked on this show. Holly Hunter's character hasn't learned lessons as quickly as I would like her to, but of course that's part of what keeps me watching.

3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

No time to play along with this one. But, if you decide to play, let me know in the comments!

Last one to do the Summer meme

Because everybody else has done it, and sometimes I'm a joiner.

1.) What first tells you that Summer is here?
The daily "How much longer can we avoid turning on the air conditioning?" suspense.

2.) Name five of your favorite distinctively Summer habits or customs.
- Making homemade ice cream (I think we're going to have to replace our ice cream freezer... it's 8 years old and the thing that holds the motor onto the tub broke off...)
- Getting a whole lot of my hair whacked off (did that yesterday, and good thing, too -- just in time to avoid getting it all tangled in the wind at an outdoor concert last night).
- Having a few weeks of a lighter Wednesday music rehearsal schedule
- We usually make one trip to Six Flags at some point, hitting all the biggest and best rides as many times as we can put up with standing in line.
- "Batching it" for a week while The Alpha chaperones the youth mission trip.

3.) What is your favorite smell of Summer?
Honeysuckle.

4.) What is your favorite taste of Summer?
A perfectly ripe slice of watermelon.

5.) Favorite Summer memory?
Freezing my tail off in August on a day cruise to Northwest Glacier... spotting the wildlife... hardly believing we were seeing such grandeur.

6.) Extreme heat or extreme cold? Which would you choose and why?
I guess by default of living in the South I've chosen extreme heat. But I don't really like it. However, I don't think I'd really like extreme cold, either. I'm a wimp.

7.) What books do you plan to read for the season?
I just started The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. Intriguing, thus far.

8.) How does the Summer affect your faith? Is it a hindrance or an ally?
Summer creates some open space -- no big holiday preparation pressures, for example -- so I think it's probably an ally, though I've never pondered this question before.

I don't think there's anyone left to tag for this one! But if you haven't done it yet, be my guest.

Oddly Familiar Meme

Diane tagged me for this meme over the weekend:

Rules:
The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
Each player answers the questions about himself or herself.
At the end of the post, the player then tags five people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
Yadayadayada

Ten years ago:
Ten years ago, I was working in a very different place from where I work now. I mean, it was in an office, and it involved sitting at a computer and dealing with printed materials both before and after they were printed, but that's about where it ends. I'm glad to be not-there.

Five things on today's "to do" list:
- Take out the trash (check!)
- Add another blogroll to include bloggers who didn't go on the RevGals Big Event
- Think about when I might go donate blood (another day)
- Think about scheduling termite warranty inspection (call 'em tomorrow?)
- Answer Diane's tag (in progress!)

Things I'd do if I was a billionaire:
- Pay my alma mater to not bring back football
- Pay off my sister's house and make certain she has great medical care
- Remodel my house
- Eradicate malaria (well, I'm already helping...)

Three bad habits:
- Not finishing books
- Eating too many Krispy Kreme doughnuts at one sitting
- Wasting water by taking long showers

Five places I've lived:
- Clinton, Connecticut
- Hot Springs, Arkansas
- Conway, Arkansas
- Dallas, Texas
- My own fantasy world

Five jobs I've had:
- Flower shop delivery driver
- Receptionist
- Junior advertising writer
- PR professional
- Local church staff member

Five people I'm tagging:
Mid-Life Rookie
Zorra
God Guurrlll
ConcreteGodmother
RevHRod

We'll see if I get around to telling them I tagged them tonight....