Challenges, Staycations, and more

I'm thinking.

It's a dangerous pastime, I know.

For this year, I set myself two challenge goals. Not only did I manage to complete both, I knocked them out of the water... And managed to have one of the biggest years of my life.

I could almost be considered an adult at this point. 

(I still have a few lingering childhood and teenage habits.)

As such, and as the title of this blog states, I'm designing my challenge goals and Staycation ideas for next year. I'm an input person, so I would love your input. 

What staycation ideas would you be willing to share?

What would you challenge me to do next year?

I do not make any promises on completing suggestions, however, I will take them under advisement and some of them may make the list. 

Most importantly, thank you! (Especially given that it's Thanksgiving week...)

Thank you for making this year remarkable. 

Thank you for all your support, even when you totally disagree with me. 

Thank you for all the love and kindness you show the world. We need it. 

I can't believe I'm moving to Houston

I got my first real full time job!

In case you haven't heard the news. 

Here are the details:

I'm going to be a curate at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in Houston TX. 

That's right, this Northerner is going South again!
(I am so going to miss the snow.)

I am moving next week and I have been learning first hand all the frustrations Sonic learned three years ago about moving to a new city by myself. Luckily I do have a few friends in the area and I have been, and continue to be, so very grateful for their help. 

Also, this is a great time for me to announce a new blog. Sonic and I have discussed this, so she has signed off on the deal. I am going to start a blog on which to put my sermons, religious adventures, and religious reflections on so that she does not get yoked into my religious views. Thus, this blog will still remain a place for personal adventures and scientific ideas, but my religious activities will move to: A Curious Curate (with credit to my father for the name). I have already put some old sermons and Allergy Friendly Church items there. (Wait for the campaign... its coming!)

I look forward to exploring Houston and starting my first full time job!

Haiku for Israel

As part of the course I took at St. George's College in Jerusalem the class members had to provide entertainment for the group and staff on the last night we were there. I was part of a small choral ensemble and while I thought that would be enough, I was also moved to share some haiku I wrote about my time in Israel. After the post yesterday, it was suggested by a fellow traveler that I share them here.

Haiku Reflection on Israel

Israel is for Jews
The Holy Land, Jerusalem
All the World's People

Silence please he says
This is holy sacred space
the police sirens scream

Dusty, dirty, hot
the ice cream stand glistens here
Here is the high altar

On the pilgrim trail
searching through all the corners
hearing the call, 'Found!'

Year Challenge Goals: The Dating Game

I completed my second year challenge in the first week of June!

That was it for the year challenges.

What do I do now??

(Not like getting my first job and moving wouldn't be challenges of this year... But I will save that for another post.)

Going on a date was not as hard as I thought it would be, but it was definitely different than I thought it would be. Since June, I have been on a number of dates and its amazing to me how quickly people come into and leave out of a person's life. The first date was on frisbee golf course and neither of us made a lot of good goals. Unfortunately the relationship that has developed through the dating I have done will not last very long, but it was good for me personally. I grew and learned that there is a lot of variety and its amazing how much a single trait can color and change the way a relationship between two people develops and works (or doesn't work). I look forward to continuing to date in the future. I do not know what will happen when I move, but I think that whatever happens will be interesting. 

Look out! ;)

The Rocks of Israel

I finally made it to Israel.
(And I'm finally making it around to writing about Israel...)

Despite all the road blocks and the frustrations, it was totally worth it. The trip was amazing to say the least. There is something about visiting a land that you have read about for decades and finally seeing and feeling it. 

The mountains are steeper than I imagined. 

The landscape changes faster than I could have thought possible.

Despite so much tension, people are still people and daily life must go on. 

The group I was with was from across the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and England. I learned just as much from the group of people I was with as from the course director about the land of Israel. I probably could have learned more from the director of the course, however there is only so much information I can retain after eight hours in the hot sun looking at tan stones. And pretty much everything was made of tan stones. Houses, churches, synagogues, graves, walls, mosaics, they were all made of tan stones.

The Dome of the Rock

The Garden of Gethsemane 

Tan and olive. The olive trees looked exactly like I had always been told and I ate a lot of olives. I almost like olives after the trip. 

Not surprisingly, I gathered a lot of rocks from Israel. I also brought back broken pottery and some souvenirs naturally. The rock collection comes from the Jordan River, the Judean wilderness, Masada, Qumran, the Sea of Galilee, and lots of other places that touched my heart in ways I cannot fully describe.

The Church of All Nations

 This trip will enrich my spirituality for years to come. My understanding of the bible has shifted, not dramatically, but enough to be noticeable and enough to change my understanding of humanity.  

I will pray for everyone in Israel and Palestine for the rest of my life.

Year Challenge Goals: The Triathlon

I am going to try a triathlon.
Next weekend.
In Alabama.

Yes.
Swimming, biking, running.
All together.
Very quickly.
With a crowd of other people.
Early in the morning.


I am aware that in this, as well as maybe other aspects of my life, I am crazy.


However, it has actually been some fun. It has been amazingly tiring. And my body has never been as sore before in my life. But, I am connecting to my community as never before, and learning so many new things. My thank you have to go out to most of the Sewanee community. Between supplying me with equipment and coaching and encouragement, I would never have been able to do this for the first time without y'all.

It is amazing to think that in high school I actually day dreamed about doing a triathlon. I was much heavier then (by about 70 lbs!), and triathlons involve running, and I was firmly against running. For this bookworm, sweating was totally disgusting. It might be an understatement now to say that I have gotten used to sweating.

However, I learned somewhere in the last year about life challenge goals and so I set myself two for this year. The first is to complete a triathlon. Hopefully next Saturday I will do this. My goal simply is to finish. The second goal that I set for myself this year is to go on a date. I have decided that it doesn't even have to be a good date as long as it is actually a date.

Honestly, I am not sure which is going to be harder.
I have spent four months now training almost every day for this triathlon. Yet, thinking about trying to find a date has been scarier than thinking about swimming, biking, and running for more than three hours on a Saturday morning.

Either way, I am looking forward to accomplishing both of these challenge goals this year.

If anyone I know in Southern Tennessee or Alabama is looking for something to do next Saturday and needs some inspiration, come see me cross the finish line! It will be quite the sight to see. ;)

What Actually Happened

Okay, so there wasn't any baby hugging or town hall meetings, and there was minimal hand shaking, but in our little world of a blue Subaru, Yoda and I did run for the presidency. We did so by adding a spin to the traditional license plate game. In our version we didn't just see how many different state plates we could spot, but for each new state we came across we would award ourselves that state's number of electoral votes. Then, when our electoral vote count reach 270, we would declare ourselves President and Vice President elect.

We did this for each full day of driving during our trip (6 total).

Unsurprisingly, or maybe not given who was running, we won every travel day! Of course, being us, we kept the data on which states we won each day, and then made some lovely graphs! Enjoy!

My Fellow Americans!

Four Score and Seven, uh, days* ago, Master Yoda and myself devised a plan.
March 14, 2014, a day which will live in (not) infamy, we carried out that plan and ventured across this vast country of ours, shaking hands, hugging babies, and holding town hall meetings in order to achieve one thing: a Presidential Victory! We set out with an abundance of courage and determination; of confidence in our platform and of the conviction in the American people to do what is right. Our platform is as follows (spoken softly but while carrying big sticks):

1. Anti-poverty: We don't like poverty because, well, who does?
2. Pro-education: Rarely is the question asked: "Is our children learning"?
3. Redistribute defense budget: Some old guy told us to watch out for this "military-industrial complex" thing.
4. NASA: Because where would we be without memory foam mattresses and water filters?
5. Abolitionists: If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.
6. Agriculture reform: Because soy subsidies are forcing innocent people to eat chicken curry in an Texas Arby's.
7. Heath care reform: Dude, that system is broken.

These are not Republican issues. These are not Democratic issues. These are American issues. We must reach across the aisle to be successful. Which is why we ran as Independents. (Also, there was a little mishap with getting our paperwork through, so we were also write-ins).

America, indeed, you have nothing to fear but fear itself as you have shown in voting for us time and again (because then either you truly have no fear, or are crazy).

God Bless America!

* Approximately

One Rock, Two Rock, Red Rock, Blue Rock

Sonic and I recently returned from an amazing road trip throughout the southwest of the USA. 

Anyone who has ever been out that way knows that there are a lot of rocks.

And if you read this blog, you know how much I like rocks.

So, we wrote a rock book.

Of course.

(the long hours in the car may have started getting to us...)

Kind of like Dr. Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish...

 

except about rocks.

We call it One Rock, Two Rock, Red Rock, Blue Rock*.

One rock

two rock

red rock

blue rock*

    *more turquoise-ish

purple rock

white rock

yellow rock

black rock 

grey rock

multicolored rock

Let's be inclusive.

Rock n'roll!

hard rock 

(not the cafe)

soft rock 

(not Journey)

mixed rock 

(not mash ups)

new rock 

(not the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs)

old rock 

(not the Eagles)

ancient rock

prehistoric rock

lava rock

no post rock, 

but rock in post shape.

Shaped rock!

big rock

medium rock

small rock

tiny rock

minuscule rock

circular rock

square rock

rectangular rock

parallelogram rock

rhomboid rock

(we studied math)

broken rock

smashed rock

flat rock

sharp rock

dull rock

wind swept rock

rock eroded by water 

Speaking of water,

snow covered rock

rock that follows gravity

rock that defies gravity

rock with art*

   *really bad art

plain rock

rock from outer space

crumbly rock

hot rock

cold rock

pure rock

rock supporting life

rock deterring life

single rock

rock with companions

rock in the multitude

dry rock

wet rock

untouched rock

trampled rock

fields of rock

rock with bacteria waste

Need I say more?

But of course I will,

traveling rock

stationary rock

useless rock

useful rock

(sheet rock)

(wait, what?)

organized rock

rock in chaos

(by itself?)

striped rock

abused rock

loved rock

Rock Rock Rock

(Any offensive opinions expressed in this book are unintentional and cannot be blamed on any one person specifically. 

Sorry.

Also, the soap budget for the making of this book was exceeded. 

Please send soap donations to: 

We Need More Soap

333 Desert View Dr.

Grand Canyon AZ)

Blessed by Rocks

I have been blessed by rocks.

After the last post, I was given another gift of rocks.
The new ones are polished, colorful, stones with words on them such as Peace, Joy, Faith, Wisdom, Blessings, and Laugh.

 Kind of like the ones in this photo, but not the same.

I am grateful that the start of my ordained ministry has been filled with rocks.

It's earthy, grounded, incarnational.
Life is full of rocks, challenges which come and offer us opportunities and changes of direction.

God is here.
Even with the rocks.

Someday, I hope you would share some time with me,
and tell me the story of your rock,
your challenge,
your victory and failure,
just us
and our rocks.

There once was a rock...

Rocks are amazing things. 

They are created under pressure 

Or in intense heat

They crumble over ages, and ages, and ages

Destroyed daily by simple things like wind and water 

Picking away at the molecules

One by one

Until mountains of rock

Become the expansive beaches of sand

Undeniably amazing. 

Always, holding a rock is comforting

The solidity, the weight, the sheer confidence

I am a rock, this is what I am. 

From the smallest pebble to the largest mountain boulder

They claim reality

Even while remaining significantly impermanent

Changing daily in that never ending cycle we call life

Undeniably amazing. 

I have a few rock stories. 

But there is one that I wish to tell, here and now

It is about a rock that hit me on the head in the Atlantic Ocean. It's story hasn't finished, but our journey together has hit a critical moment, and this is where I saw God. 

A few days after my beloved previous boyfriend broke up with me, my parents took my sorry self to the Jersey shore. It was a lovely day, sand castles were built, some people got very burnt, we all had sand in our shoes, and I was hit on the head by this rock. I decided to keep the rock, for many reasons, mostly because I felt the desperate need for something solid to hold onto. Fitting nicely between my two hands, this rock fit the bill very well. I decided that as replacement therapy and moral support, I would carry around the rock for a while until I felt... better. 

Almost seven months later, I have still been carrying around the rock daily. While most days I do feel better, there are still days I don't and it's comforting to know I have something solid and real with me that isn't going to leave me. However, coming up on starting a new chapter, actually, a whole new era of my life, my spiritual director suggested I think about putting it down.

I have nowhere to put it, I told him. I'm moving in a few months and my house keeps changing. Thinking, I'm not ready, I don't want to, not yet please...

I stopped thinking about for a few days, the rock safely tucked in my pocket. 

Today, I received my second ordination gift. From my previous boyfriend's parents. 

A rock bowl. 

Specifically designed for keeping rocks which signify important moments in your life. Specifically coming with painted rocks to help you get started and to be added to. Specifically designed to be a home for the rocks which you put down. 

God, I see it. I see what you did there. 

Perhaps it's time to put the rock down. 

Self Monitoring Hospital Beds

Last night I was having a conversation with some friends and we got around to talking about trying to sleep in the hospital. When I worked as a chaplain in a hospital, sleeplessness was the number one complaint I heard. Most people find trying to sleep in hospitals with all the lights, beeps, wires, and interruptions terribly hard. As we were talking, I thought about the apps which monitor sleep while laying the device on the sleeping surface. What a research project it would be to put motion sensors on the inside of the top of the hospital air mattresses and then hook them up to the software which uses the sensory data from the detectors to track sleep cycles and pulse. This would mean a few less wires, lights, beeps, and interruptions for the hospital patients. Granted there are a number of other aspects of a patient's health and vitals which would need to be monitored throughout the night, but the more rest available for each patient may speed recovery time.

Obviously, this is not research that I could do at the moment, but my friends and I thought it was an interesting idea. Perhaps someone else is already doing this kind of research or will do this kind of research in the future. After all, even technology is able to help medicine occasionally. ;)