Theology in Heels

hey, folks. i have no idea if anybody still checks this, but if you do.... i've started blogging regularly for the Houston Chronicle's religion site, HoustonBelief. come visit.

dear blog,

i know i haven't been around much lately. things have been crazy, what with the new job and moving 4 times in 6 months and making friends and establishing connections in a new city. and the truth is, i found someone else.

now it's not that you aren't special and awesome and everything, but twitter is just so much easier! i only have to come up with something 140 characters long to say, and it can totally be a line from a song. the level of creativity and thought required by you is just not required by twitter.

so, really, it's not you, it's me. but let's stay friends. every once in a while we can catch up. but at the moment, twitter is just meeting my felt needs more fully. you are kinda freaking me out with the intensity of your demands.

we'll always have paris,
lauren

Announcements

#1

I ran a mile in 9:20 yesterday on the elliptical at physical therapy. This is very exciting. I haven't run a mile in that fast in a LONG time - I've never been much of a speedster. My fastest time on record was like in 4th grade and was like 7:45 or something. I'm kinda like yay! :-D

Now, when I run 3 miles (as has been my recent workout strategy), they don't come that fast, but I figure that's ok because I am, after all, running 3 instead of 1.

#2

i wrote an article for a new periodical at Wake, and my old philosophy professor (remember him?) Charles Lewis, apparently does not agree with my position on the New Perspective on Paul. as soon as the website is up and running again (they appear to be revamping it), you should check the article out. despite his criticism, it was quite a flattering letter. then again, it's flattering that he would take the time to publicly disagree with me as an equal, which he does. he may be chock full of heresy, but the man has seen and studied at least 3 times more than the years i've been alive. so hmm.

#3

i have decided that, since none of you people who regularly read this thing (at least as far as i know) read my old xanga, i'm going to steal some old material from there and republish it here. it's random silliness, but it beats finding, for example, all those ridiculous pick-up lines again. so brace yourselves - the posting will be up in frequency and up in humor. and hopefully, you'll find it moderately interesting.

I Swear Things Will Be Different...

the truth is that i'm way too busy doing things that either are just too much for me (i.e., 14 hours of classes) or are my mundane attempt at making up for how hard i'm working and how crazy my life is. between surprises like physical therapy twice a week for my knees and my grandfather's death and funeral last week, i haven't been able to catch a breath sizable enough to write something. but i will say a few things now.

firstly, i'm now 23. my birthday was last monday. it started off not so hot, as my grandfather had died saturday morning and i was just generally having a crappy day, but it got better. suffice it to say that i like people.

secondly, i'm grateful that my grandfather is with Jesus now, and that he's more alive now that we are here.

thirdly, i'm switching degrees (MDiv to MABS) in order to preserve my sanity (fewer classes at a time, and still graduating 1/2 a year to a year earlier than i would have in the MDiv) and give me the opportunity to do other things - like join a book club, babysit, and really develop some friendships here in charlotte.

fourthly, look at this. it's really funny.

so i hope to write more regularly once the insanity of my life slows down, and i'm thereby able to do things interesting enough to write about. or think things interesting enough to write about. or, heck, to think things at all. in the meantime, please bear with me.

i have decided to stop titling things unless i have a really rocking title in mind. i cannot count the number of times i have not posted because i couldn't come up with a decent title. i have since decided that this is stupid.

i think a part of my brain is dead. i haven't had a good joke on here of my own invention in soooooo long i'm starting to worry me. "like the cheese." - do they get any better than that? i miss the days when my wit was keen and my fingers quick, like butter on a bald monkey.

that one was for rex and ruth ann, neither of whom read this blog as far as i know.

it's weird living in charlotte. people talk about different things. maybe it's because i'm now an "adult" who listens to local talk radio as she runs errands, but it seems like the local news is more dramatic here. jim black, who apparently was the speaker of the nc house, was sentenced to like 63 months in federal prison for a weird, chiropractic, civil version of simony. (63 months? how random is that!?!) i mean, this stuff doesn't happen in texas... probably because if it did, someone would pull out a shotgun and the federal prison would have an extra slot for international drug cartel lads.

has anyone noticed the plethora of fantastic movies out this summer? who wants to buy me movie tickets??

i joined the folks over at rocksmyfaceoff.net. yay.

sandra and derek's baby was born july 4, and his name is rhodes. you can see a pic on sandra's peg board page at rmfo.

do you ever work really hard to craft the perfect sentence, mulling over in your head time and again the words, tweaking and changing and altering them until you forget the thought that got you going to begin with? i've been doing that alot lately.

i just finished reading a book called the historian, which was extremely bizarre and also one of the best books i've read in a while. if i were to list the best books i've read that were written in the past century(adult - you know my thing for kids books, but i think a respectable number of books in children's lit were written in the last century), it wouldn't be terribly long, but this book would definitely be on it. maybe i should do that sometime...

anyway, the historian is on sale right now at bn.com, so i'd head over there if you're interested in a $5.00 book. it's about 650 pages, but i read it in basically 4 days (while doing lots of other things, of course). the story is about vampires and dracula and all sorts of weird stuff like that, but it's also not at all. it occurs across many times and involves many "historical documents." the literary value of the novel is positively delicious. good times, eh?

Lent Is Coming...

whatever shall we do?

i'm thinking of a repeat of last year's task, limiting it (no re-doing hymns from last year) and expanding it (not just hymns). thoughts?

So I Haven't Written in a While...

but that's only because i haven't had anything to say. it's good for me to occasionally shut up. :)

Hello World

i know i have been AWOL. sorry i didn't ask for leave before leaving. things just got absolutely insane the last week or so of school: i pulled 3 more all-nighters; i wrote gobs and gobs of pages; i studied for exams; i even threw a little dinner party. then i drove home, and guess what: my car was leaking oil. it should be ready to be picked up tomorrow. anyway, then i came home, slept a bit, and then i started back at barnes and noble for the holiday season. it has been SO fun - they've put me back in the kids' section pretty exclusively, and i love it. my favorite is when people come to ask about gifty books for kids they know pretty well. it's a blast. i can get so excited about these books, because they are good, and i love people. i love working with people, i love helping them find good things to read or give, and i love to spread the love of reading.

i know i know - i'm a total dork. so sue me.

and the last bit of my excuse for not writing is that the internet connection at my parents' house is awful most of the time. i've even been a slacker at checking email.

i did want to talk about covenant theological seminary - i know some of you were curious about what i thought. granted, i'm late enough in posting (and irregular at this point) that no one may read what i think. but at least i'm putting it out there.

i liked covenant. the people were really sweet and made me feel at home. i sat in on chapel and two classes. hans bayer, whose intro to the bible i sat in on, was sooooooooo fascinating. it was great. and i think my favorite part of the school is the focus on relationships and relational learning. the big talk of the campus was a group project that was being done for the class on the book of job - the teachers commit to fostering discussion and relationships with and between students, because the church is in many ways the antithesis of "every man is an island" and God didn't design us to be hermits. the community life is strong, particularly since there is an actual campus with a lovely library, a student center fully rigged for studyage, and on campus family housing, which brings keeps alot of the married people around. i love the fact that you can look out the window and see parents and kids playing on the campus playground.

that said, i just can't tell whether i like covenant or just seminary. i'm hoping to visit wts-dallas and rts-charlotte before march, so that should help. it should also be quite telling - i think it's more than probable that i will wind up at covenant, but i want to be totally open to what God wants to do. whatever He is up to i want to be a part of.

So Recently...

...blogger hasn't been letting me post. not sure what that is about.

anyway, i just finished my final paper for jane austen. i'm about to start a paper on plath, and then i have a paper for wilde. then there are the two exams.

meanwhile, i must confess that i'm not really ready for my second semester senior year. it's just odd to be here. it's just bizarre. not that i don't feel old enough, but still i feel like i'm...not ready. maybe mostly because i'm not ready to leave my friends.

one week from now and i will be home. :)