Subconscious (Un)reality

So my hopes of getting a good night's sleep last night were quickly dashed to the ground. Had a crazy dream that left me pretty restless, to say the least. In said dream the U2charist started and only about 40 people showed up. And then the powerpoint wasn't working and the whole thing was a mess. I told Charles about it, but he said if 40 people show up it will be a success. Be that as it may, I hope there will be more than 40 people there. Then Peachie (our beagle) started barking at 6 am. This was weird for a couple of reasons. 1. As she's gotten older, she tends to sleep longer and doesn't whine so much during the night. and 2. She's never been really big on barking, but yesterday she was barking all of the time. I'm a firm believer in that whole "animals have a sixth sense" thing, so maybe we're going to have an earthquake or something. Who knows. I thought about just getting up at 6, as I had trouble falling back asleep, but eventually sleep came and it was all good. Until my phone rang at 7:20 am. Julie Roth wanted me to watch Alan Todd, which I would have loved to do, if it weren't for the fact that I'm going crazy today getting stuff ready for the service tomorrow. So I felt really really bad that I had to say no. Then I couldn't fall asleep for real, and just laid in bed for a while.

I had another crazy dream the night before. In this one I had to meet with the Commission on Ministry again, and they said I could be a postulant as long as I was willing to go back to being a 10 year old and live for a year as such. But the thing was, I would have the intellect and life experience of a 23 year old. It was the most horrible dream ever. I kept trying to convince people that I knew this stuff already and wasn't really ten, but they didn't believe me. Probably plays in to my fears that alot of priests in the diocese have known me since I was about 10 or 11, and that they'll always see me that way (something which I don't believe is true at all, and have never had reason to believe).

Geez.

Another Blaine shot

I decided to also upload another picture of Blaine. This was actually taken about a month ago, so he's even bigger now. And just as cute (but with more hair.) And apparently he's laughing now (but I've yet to experience his laugh. Can't wait, though). Enjoy!

U2charist on my Mind

Howdy folks. I've been at church all day getting stuff set up for the U2charist. I have to admit, it looks pretty damn good. All that's really left to do is get the screen/sheets set up for the powerpoint and the slideshow, and everything will be good to go. The sound system in the church is amazing...wish I had one like that in my car/house/anywhere really. The whole place is definitely going to be rockin' out come Saturday night! I'm trying to figure out a couple of lighting issues (i.e. making sure people who are sitting where you can't see the ppt can actually read their bulletins). But so far I've got no idea how to make it work. The rope lighting doesn't do much other than blind you in one third of your eye, while the other two thirds tries in vain to see in the dark. I did get all of the window coverings painted and put up. Damn things were a pain in the ass, to say the least, but I think they're a nice addition. They have that kind of "I just threw together this sign for a rock concert" look to them, and as the service is kind of simulating a concert, I think it's all good. I'm exhausted though. Hopefully I'll get some good sleep tonight...haven't been sleeping the best lately. And then tomorrow night we have a tech rehearsal (tip of the hat to you, mom), and then Saturday is the big day!!! So come on out if you can. And if you can't, I'll let you know what you missed : )

Peace ya'll

P.S. Props to the guys at Doo Wop Shop on Hurstbourne Lane. Here's more to the saga of yesterday: sometime yesterday afternoon I called Doo Wop Shop to see if they had another T Bar, as they only had one that morning. The guy said yeah, they had it, so I left church and raced over to Bardstown Road to get it. Well, I get in there and it turns out they don't have a T-Bar. Which was kind of annoying but I was cool with it. But the guys in the store were really upset about the mix up, so they called Hurstbourne to see if they had one. Well, they did, so I battled rush hour traffic on Taylorsville Rd. to get out there and get the bar. I get there and the guys were like "yeah, we were the ones who told you we had the t bar. You actually called this store." Doh. So I apologized for being a spaz. Well, they weren't sure if I had to fill out a contract again or not, so the guy called the Bardstown Rd. store and said that they should just add it to my contract there because they were stupid and told me they had a bar when they didn't and made me drive all the way out to Hurstbourne. Ha. Take that, you somewhat stuck up about your monopoly on lights in the Highlands Doo Wop Shop workers on Bardstown Rd. And thank you oh so much, Bob at Hurstbourne Lane. You made my day.

The Results Are In...

That's right folks. The results are in, and I'm now officially a postulant!!! For those of you who don't know , that means I'm on track for ordination in the Episcopal Church. Which means awesomeness, mostly because I get to do ministry that's so important in our world, with awesome people, at an awesome time! So I'm uber excited, needless to say. Anywho...I'm going to get back to work. On a slightly random note: WHAT KIND OF BUSINESS ISN'T OPEN AT 9 AM?????? Not restaurants, mind you. I'll accept that. But this morning I decided to be on top of things and stop by the Doo Wop shop on my way to work, which meant that I had to negotiate the hellacious Bardstown Road traffic (I have Bardstown Road unless I'm walking down it, and even then I don't like it much). I should have known something was amiss when there weren't a bajillion cars parked along the side of the road, thereby cutting off the flow of traffic. But I remaind hopeful nonetheless, especially since the neon lights in the store's windows were on (which to me means that you are open). So then I pull up to the garage and the door's closed, but I remain hopeful thinking "well, I'm just the first one here, so they haven't opened the doors yet." But no. They don't open until 10. LAME. Now I have to go back there today and get the lights, and when I go I'll have to be turning left onto Bardstown as well as left into Doo Wop Shop. And left turns+Bardstown Rd.= bad news bears. Oh well. It'll be aight.

NOW I'll get back to work. Got U2charist stuff to work on. Thus far I've heard of people coming from Lexington, Campbellsville, Glasgow, and Bowling Green. So that rocks!!!! Again, if you're in the area on Saturday night, come to the U2charist!!!!

Hilary is, in fact, Alive.

Why hello there everyone. I guess it's been about two months since last I wrote. So sorry about that. Summer has gotten in the way of things, but hopefully once school starts back up I will be able to write some more.

I'm writing right now from my very own storage closet/office at St. Mark's. It's my last week here, which is very sad. I've grown accustomed to the flourescent lighting and the lack of air circulation. But those things aside, it's been nice. I feel like I have my own little niche here at St. Mark's. So I guess I will get everyone up to speed on what's been going on...

Internship: It's almost over, which is incredibly hard to believe! I actually have a meeting tonight in front of the commission on ministry, and they'll decide today (hopefully) if they want to make me a postulant (again, hopefully they will). I have high hopes that things will go well, and I'm pretty sure I'll get the green light, but you never know what can happen. So I'm nervous, and have spent a good portion of the day wondering what the hell I will do with my life if the commission says no. I do feel strongly, however, that God has called me to ministry, and I believe the commission sees that call as well. But pray for me and the COM tonight nonetheless, that God may be present in our mutual discernment.

In other internship news, things are going along swimmingly for the U2charist. I'm wicked excited about it, and it sounds like we may have a crowd! I know there are people coming from Campbellsville, Bowling Green, and Lexington, so that's huge! If you're in the Louisville area, it's this Saturday the 26th at 5:30 pm. It's a really powerful service and a huge testimony to how we as Christians can live out our faith. The rehearsal is this Friday night, and I keep thinking that perhaps there is more I should be doing, but things are pretty much in place so now it's kind of a waiting game! Sunday is also my last Sunday at St. Mark's, which is going to be sad. I've grown to love this community alot, and it's going to be hard leaving them. Kind of like it was hard leaving Christ Church. But there's exciting stuff to come...

School: Speaking of exciting, I'll be leaving one internship to be going to another. I'll be helping out at Trinity this next year in Boston with our young adult group. I'll be going around to campuses and telling young people about what we're doing. It should be a lot of fun, but also really hard. More to come on this once I know more. School starts the 18th, so I'm going to b e sitting around in Boston for a while trying to find something to do. Although I'll have AND stuff. And I'm going to be taking Greek this year so I could go ahead and buy the book so I can start memorizing the alphabet, etc. School should be exciting though.

Other Stuff: Mainly my nephew. He's amazing, and adorable, and beautiful. He's gotten so b ig, and his real hair is growing in! Erin has to brush it after she gives him a bath, which is cute. I'm going to miss him something fierce, and he'll be so huge when I get home for Christmas break. I try not to think about that, but it will still be hard.

Anyway, that's all I'm going to post for now. I'm going to go home and maybe work on the pool a bit before I get ready for the commission meeting tonight. I'll try to remember to post the results tomorrow.

Peace y'all.

Titles are Hard to Come By

I'm thinking of taking the titles off of my posts...they're so hard to come up with. That and in the past two weeks only 20 people have looked at this site, and 10 of those people I believe have been myself. Lame... So I'm not going to take the time to come up with cool post titles if no one's reading. Anyway, I'm back from camp. It was a good week. They combined 1/2 with 3/4 grade camp, and I thought it went really well. The kids were all and all pretty good, with only the usual bouts of homesickness and the like. And the weather was nice, aside from the blazing hot days for the beginning of the week. So now I'm back home, bringing back an ear infection and sinusitis as souvenirs. Woohoo!

Archbishop's Response

The Archbishop of Canterbury today posted his longer response to General Convention and the goings on there. I was a little disappointed to see almost no mention of the role of women in the Anglican Communion, particularly how KJS's position as PB-elect is going to effect the communion. The best part of the letter was, I believe, the following:
"Both of these points are really grounded in the belief that our unity is something given to us prior to our choices - let alone our votes. ‘You have not chosen me but I have chosen you’, says Jesus to his disciples; and when we gather to celebrate the Eucharist, we are saying that we are all there as invited guests, not because of what we have done. The basic challenge that practically all the churches worldwide, of whatever denomination, so often have to struggle with is, ‘Are we joining together in one act of Holy Communion, one Eucharist, throughout the world, or are we just celebrating our local identities and our personal preferences?’"
Food for thought, definitely. I agree with the Daily Episcopalian, though, in that trying to say this whole debate is about how we make decisions and not homosexuality is like saying the civil war was about states' rights and not slavery. Right on, man. Let's just name it for what it is and go from there. That's just my opinion, anyway. If you're interested in reading the whole letter, go to http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org and check press releases. It's the first one under that, dated June 27. Happy reading.

Pic of Blaine

I think I may have promised you all that I would post a picture of my nephew...Well, here he is! The most beautiful boy in the world, Blaine. He's even a little bigger now than he was in this picture! He's perfect.

Interesting Article

Here's an interesting article from a newspaper in the UK...The Guardian. The comments below are also somewhat intriguing, as they provide a more everyday perspective from the British people. I like what the author says about the American Episcopal church being a church of the people. Nice. Anyway, I recommend you read the article.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,1805970,00.html

Back to the Daily Grind

Today was the first Sunday back at church since General Convention. I was half expecting Charles to preach on it, but to no avail. I also didn't hear many people talking about it. Could be because it's been half a week, or maybe because the average Episcopalian hasn't really paid too much attention to what's going on around the world. Check out some of the "Blogs I Read" for info on the conversation going on surrounding GC. I think the best point I've heard thus far is that in reality, what happens in our churches is on a very local level...and when it goes international, then it's usually one church pairing up with another. There's not really any meeting with the primates (how many Episcopalians have really known and been influenced directly by the PB? or the Archbishop of Canterbury? Or Akinola?) I just wonder how much of an effect this is going to have on the large middle ground dioceses of Episcopalians...It will be interesting to see.

Back from General Convention

That's right folks. I'm back from Columbus, OH, and the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church. I went there to participate in the Young Adult Festival as well as Convention itself. Aside from the awesome young adults I met from all over the country, and my conversation with Professor Britton at Berkeley Divinity (at Yale...which is where I want to go to seminary), there were a few things that were especially good.

First, we elected the first ever female presiding bishop. AMAZING!!! I hadn't even counted Katherine Jefferts Schori as one of the contenders, because I NEVER thought that the bishops would vote for a woman. But the Spirit moved them...and THEY DID!!!! The reaction in the House of Deputies was amazing. There was literally a huge gasp when they said her name, and then everyone started clapping (which we weren't supposed to do). I had chills down my arms, and my friend Bart literally fell out of his chair. There were women crying, and men got up to speak in favor of the nomination. Thinking about it makes me tear up...as a young woman who will (hopefully) one day be ordained in the Episcopal Church, there is nothing more affirming. Nothing whatsoever.

Second, there was a TON of energy around the millenium development goals (for more info go to www.episcopalchurch.org/one). I think that there is no better way to show the Anglican Communion that we are commited to such a communion than to commit our souls and resources to helping our brothers and sisters in the global South who go to bed hungry every night, are oppressed because of their sex of indigenous status, or are ravished by HIV/AIDS, TB, or malaria. Part of this energy centered around a U2charist, which was the most amazing spiritual service I've ever been too. Seriously. 750 people packed into this ballroom. The Spirit was moving there. Michael Curry preached an amazing sermon and had a whole room of God's frozen chosen saying Amen! Then the convention voted to make the MDG's a budget priority. The PB-elect has also made them one of her priorities, which is great!

Third, we approved shared communion in the interim with the United Methodist Church. This is a great move, in my opinion, towards a more unified Church. We're not becoming Methodist, bu t we're recognising the shared heritage of all Christians. I ate lunch at a pub and the chief officer for ecumenical relations (a bishop whose name escapes me at the moment) was very pleased. So yahoo!

As for the Windsor Report, and everything surrounding it, I feel that this General Convention worked so hard to wrestle seriously with issues of communion and what that entails. Some may feel that the resolutions were not good enough, either because they went too far or not far enough. But the Archbishop can't say we didn't try. I sat in on the debates, and there was a real willingness (as far as I could tell) to work out these issues and come to some resolve.

All in all, it was an amazing experience. Anyone who can should check out General Convention in three years...

Peace ya'll

The Heat is Hot

Well, it's hot as hell here. As PT would say...balls. It's that hot. Wonder if Boston is anywhere near as bad. Anywho, pretty much just rollin' along here on the home front. The baby is home with his family. They came over on Monday and we had a great time. I can't get over how cute he is! And he is already lifting his head some. At 1.5 weeks! Crazy. I started my job at St. Mark's this week, and I'm excited about it. Charles is a great guy, and I think it will be good to be working under him this summer. He's so upbeat, and I think St. Mark's will be a good place to get some perspective on ministry and my place in ministry. I'm reading a book he assigned me called "On Being a Priest Today." Thus far it's great, and totally confirms my view of ministry (which is one that is centered in empowering people to be the apostles we're called to be) and is helping me to develop it further. So that's cool! I'm trying to finish up my report for the Project, but it's slow go. I've been working on it for over a month...almost two I think, and I just want it to be done!!!! Hopefully soon. I've gotten 3 grades back so far, and I'm pleased. Got an A- in French, which was somewhat of a bummer, but I think it's because of the translation that was due the week I had my appendix taken out. I got it in on time and everything, but had to get it ready the day I got home from the hospital. So I'm not upset about it. I think it's pretty damn good, considering the circumstances. Let's see what else? The Niebuhr/Day paper got a good grade, strangely enough. I didn't feel that it was well developed, but who knew? Enough about school though. We bought an above ground pool for the yard yesterday. Hopefully we'll get it all set up and ready to go in the next few days! It's 4 feet deep, which is deeper than anything we had growing up. It will be nice to have a place to hang out in the back yard this summer. Especially since it's been so hot lately...That's about all I've got for now. Just thought I'd write about what had happened lately. Hope you all aren't melting.
Peace y'all.

I'm an Aunt!!!

Sorry for the long period of no blogs. I know the five of you who read this were heartbroken :) Anyway, the reason for the long delay is twofold: 1. I was moving back to Kentucky, which involved a two day drive through five states. So thank God that is over and that my brother and I got home safe. Road trips like those always wear me out. And then, the night we got back the baby was born! He was born at 8:12 pm on May 20th. He is the cutest thing I've ever seen. It's amazing to see how great this world is, all wrapped up in a baby. I mean, the miracle of birth...he's so perfect. Ten fingers and ten toes...I can't get enough of just looking at him and thinking about the great things he has in store for his future. With parents like Erin and Chase, he's good to go. I'm going out to the hospital to spend the night with my sister; she was supposed to go home tonight but he's a little jaundiced and has lost some weight, so they're keeping him again. She's really sad about it, but it will be ok. So it will be a girly sleep over and Suburban tonight. Woohoo! Other than that...I have my meeting with the commission on ministry tonight. It should be interesting; I have no idea what is going to happen or what is expected of me. I just figure I will go in and be myself and it should be all good. I'm also in the process of cleaning my room, which is tiring but I got this awesome new surfing monkeys room set from Target, so I can't wait to get my room clean and put it up. I'm also leaving for Florida on Friday!!!!! sweet. I haven't had a vacation in years and years, and I'm going with my best friend and her husband. It's going to be great, and I can't wait to go to a beach (haven't been to one since I was 11). Yay vacation! Then it's back home to start work. I'm excited for the baby to get to go home, both b ecause it will be good for him and also because it means I will get to spend some time at home. I feel like I haven't really been there at all since I got back. But I'll go wherever I have to go to see Blaine. Well, that's all from here. I'm off to pick up a laundry hamper, as mine from college is now officially demonlished. Time for a new one. Peace y'all.

Clouds

So I didn't realize that Boston is located inside of a cloud. It has now been rainy and foggy for DAYS. I'm surprised my brother even made it to Boston yesterday because of the fog, and if he hadn't I don't think he would have made it today. And now it's raining really hard, and we have Sox tickets for tomorrow night but it's looking like it's going to be raining really hard the whole time and then they'll cancel the game and we won't get to go. LAME. Not to mention that the weather is supposed to be like this until I leave for KY. I feel bad for my brother because Boston is so beautiful when it's nice outside! Right now, though, it's been wet and foggy and cold for several days, and it's not going to let up anytime soon. I don't think he's even gotten to see the Boston skyline yet because visibility is less than a mile. Craziness. I'm ready for some warm Kentucky weather!

Procrastinate Now!!!

Procrastination sucks. Papers suck. Ahhh, the joys of finals. I'm working on my religious belief and moral action paper. I have about 6 pages done of 15, and I want to finish it tonight, but it's like pulling teeth I swear. I like the subject, but I would much rather just talk to my tf about it for an hour or so and leave it at that. Sitting here writing it all out is just so...tiresome. especially when I have a more exciting paper waiting in the wings to research and write in 6 days. How many people do you know who have to read Lord of the Rings in two days in order to get a paper done? Not many, but it'll be fine. On a happier note, I got a High Pass on my French exam, which is uber exciting! I was going to be pissed if I didn't pass. But I did so no worries. OK, back to work. For serious this time.

French exam...check

I'm now checking off everything on my insane list of things to do. So the language exam is out of the way, and I should get results this week. The paperwork for my liscense (sp?) arrived in l'ville today, and the guy forgot to get it notarized. So I have no idea what I'm going to do about that. At all. And I don't have the time or energy to deal with it. Just one more stresser. I bought boxes today and started packing, however. Which is an odd feeling...I mean, I lived in a dorm all through college, but for some reason this just feels different. Maybe because it's a house. But it's weird. Means school's almost over though!!!

PBS Reality TV???

Normally I despise reality TV. I think it tends to bring out the worst side of American culture, especially shows like Extreme Makeover and America's Next Top Model. Granted, there are reality TV shows that I guess could do some good. Like Extreme Home Makeover. And that's great. What I'm getting at is this PBS reality TV series I got hooked on while in the hospital. Remember, I was on morphine, lying in a hospital bed alone at 1 am watching hospital TV. So PBS was it. Anyway, there's this show called Texas Ranch House about these 15 people who all live on a Texas Ranch like it's 1867. I must have worked too hard yesterday because today I've been exhausted and not feeling great, so I lounged about at home resting up for the concert tomorrow. And what should be on TV but the last three episodes of Texas Ranch that I missed. Amazing. Go to www.pbs.org and you can see about the show. They apparently did another one the year before about a Colonial House or something of that nature. They're reairing a few episodes this Friday, so needless to say I'm uber excited about that. The show is interesting, mostly because the women get very frustrated with the situation and the men tend to turn into chauvanistic assholes. So it's an interesting lesson in gender relations. Which isn't to say that the men are really sexist in their normal lives, but living in 1867 they seemed to think it gave them an excuse to air sentiments otherwise regarded as offensive. I would recommend watching it. It's also pretty educational, and as a history buff I liked it. Something interesting anyway. I even thought it would be fun to apply to be on the next show they come up with, whatever it is. It's a thought...

Oh and hope your Derby horses did better than mine. Something nice about watching the Derby when I'm away from home and don't have to deal with the traffic and crazy drunk people. Sinister Minister started strong but ended weak. It's nice to hear My Old KY Home and see the bugler (who I actually know...I played Into The Woods with him at Trinity in '01)...home sweet home. Two weeks from today and I will be there. Yay! : )

Human Again

Nothing new has happened really. Aside from the fact that I am bored out of my mind. Yes, I realize I have finals to write and papers to work on, but every time I start reading I get so damn worn out...I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll be in much better shape to work and all of that. I actually feel human today for the first time since Monday night. I still can't believe everything that's happened since then. I feel bad too cause I won't be able to help my brother move me out of this house and into storage...I'm not supposed to lift anything over 10 lbs. Which also means I'll have to find help taking laundry to the basement to wash, returning library books, etc. Geez. I swear sometimes I feel like a baby again...it's like I can't do anything! But it was nice sleeping in my own bed and actually being able to sleep on my side a little bit. I'm awful lonely, which is a bummer. I haven't heard from any school friends since yesterday, and my roomates are being kinda weird. Maybe I expect too much from them...but I got a little upset last night when they took over the living room to watch America's Next Top Model. It's not like they don't have tvs in their room or that I had just gotten home from surgery that night. But people have their lives to live, so I guess stiff upper lip and all that. I'm going to church tonight...hopefully it won't wear me out too much, but I have to do something. I can't sit around this house with the roomies tonight...I'll go nuts. Anywho, my doctor just called to check on me, which was nice :) He's a cool guy. I like him. Well I'm going to go now, because I'm done venting and am bored again. I leave in two weeks!!!

Update

Sorry it's been a while since the last post. But I don't think there are many of you reading this anyway, however, some explanation is due. On Monday night I had my appendix taken out. Couldn't have come at a more inconvenient time...couldn't it have waited a month??? But no, there's no waiting. So I went into the hospital on Monday and I just got home about 30 minutes ago. It was a a weird experience...having surgery so far from home. But my friends came and visited, and Mike came by, so it all turned out ok. And the nurses were really nice too. So not too much to complain about. Anywho, I haven't showered since Monday, so I'm going to do that now. And then go lay down, as my tummy is hurting : (

Notes

School=stressful. Yesterday I was so stressed my entire body hurt. Luckily I'm doing better (so far) today. I'm not worried about getting stuff done...it's just the process of doing it all that stresses me out. But the weather is nice and I'm going to get ice cream with Julia, so it's all good. Hopefully I'll be picking up the truck next week. I think I'm going to name him Clifford (like the big red dog). Seems fitting. Anyway, just thought I'd post to say hey to all three people who actually read this thing. Now I'm off to write a paper on Kurozumikyo. Hot damn.