Blogging Together
Kristin and I are joinging forces. Wait…What? and Donovanhouse are merging to become … uh … DonovanHouse. We’ve wanted to share something like this for a while and I finally figured out how to import our respective previous posts into one blog. It was actually really easy. I hope to redesign the theme of donovanhouse.com sometime this summer. We’ll see.
The nature of my posting will stay the same. My thinking is that our readership will benefit from knowing us (Kristin and I) both together. We are, after all, one flesh.
Anyway – if you link to me here, catch my feed, or just read Wait…What regularly, please change everything over to http://donovanhouse.com. As soon as someone figures out a way to import wordpress.com comments into a privately hosted wordpress blog, I’ll be deleting this one.
AIR MAX ONE
Nike has recently re-released the Air Max family. I've been shopping for a new pair of running shoes for a while. I was ready to settle for a cheap pair of sneakers when these caught my eye. My dad wore these same shoes when I was a kid. Always a sucker for sentiment, I had to try them on.
I was sharing a bit of my nostalgia with the saleswoman, so she asked a co-worker which year these were originally released. He said, "Eighty-three. Wait – no, ninety-one. They're ninety-ones." I won't get into the details, but I couldn't have been older than eight when I my dad purchased these. Which means they had to have come out before 1988. I wasn't going to contest until I noticed the in-soul of the shoe lists the airmax family and each shoe's respective release year. Mine are from 1987. That's right – I bought'em and I'm lovin'em.
I still didn't contest the year because they defintiely didn't care. However, if you dig this kind of stuff like I do, you can read all about it at nikeid.nike.com. The website lists them at $90, but I got them for $80 at Champs. Don't bother with the Nike outlet stores – I went to two and they didn't have them. Oh yeah – I guess I didn't mention I saw them at Champs about a month ago, decided $90 was too expensive, dreamed about them for a few weeks, looked for a pair of comparable (albeit less expensive) shoes and finally caved when they didn't have the cheapies in my size. My wife also let me get them as long as I understood I was borrowing against Father's Day. Thanks Baby!
Farting Preacher
Apparently Kristin and I are the last people we know to see this. I'm posting it here incase any of you are as behind as we are on the youtube surfing. It's been a while since I've laughed as hard as I did when I watched this.
Dwelling Among the Hedges
A good friend (not pictured) recently shared with me some frustrations he's been experiencing living in his current town. He wants to move back to the city but present circumstances are keeping him and his family where they are. I myself have been fantasizing about buying a house and moving my family out of our apratment complex. Circumstances being what they are and our debt being what it is, it will probably be a couple of years before we buy our first home. Some days I am more at peace with this notion than others.
Occassionally Sometimes on Saturdays I start my morning by reading a passage from Morning & Evening by Charles Spurgeon. He was an artist in the way he drew an entire page of relevant exhortation from some seemingly obscure verse from the Bible. This morning's passage reminded me of my friend who wants to move to the city. Upon further reflection, it eased some of my own discontents. The verse he expounded on was 1 Chronicles 4:23, which reads (in the KJV), "These were the potters, and those that dwealt among plants and hedges: there they dwealt with the king for his work."
The following is an excerpt from Spurgeon's thoughts for the morning:
We, too, may be engaged in the most menial part of the Lord’s work, but it is a great privilege to do anything for "the king"; and therefore we will abide in our calling, hoping that, "although we have lain among the pots, yet shall we be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. (Psalm 68:13)" The text tells us of those who dwelt among plants and hedges, having rough, rustic, hedging and ditching work to do. They may have desired to live in the city, amid its life, society, and refinement, but they kept their appointed places, for they also were doing the king’s work. The place of our habitation is fixed, and we are not to remove from it out of whim and caprice, but seek to serve the Lord in it, by being a blessing to those among whom we reside.
Read the entire passage »
I have been struggling a lot lately with the tension between good stewardship and the pursuit of wealth. Taking care of my family and wanting to be rich are distinctly different ideas. However, the line between them is often blurred in practical life – at least for me it is. It's sometimes difficult to do my best at work "just" to honor God. I get jealous when others receive praise and my effort is ignored. I am more often concerned with losing my job than losing my way. I think this has a lot to do with narrow notions about who my Employer is. Given to shortness of sight, I forget which Home I'm looking forward to.
Screen Shots
I have been working on donovanworks.com for months. I think I've finally settled on a design I like. The thing is – I don't have the patience to wait until it launches for feedback. Truthfully, I'd also like to milk all usability and design advice i can get before I start chopping this thing up. My biggest trouble area right now is the blog (or "journal") section – the comments and links in particular. I'm just not sure how to organize everything. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. On an aesthetic note – I got a lot of my inspiration from artofmission. Ryan, is this too close for comfort? Let me know.
*Edit*
I should mention that the design will be expandable (does "liquid" work here?). The drop shadows are just for display purposes in this article. It's going to be more "web 2.0-ish."
Pantera Retro Scooter
I'm seriously considering this. Kristin's afraid I will die on it. I just need something to get myself to and from the transit station (and occassionally to Dairy Queen). Good idea/bad idea? Please weigh in.
Cherry Tree
I stop by Caitriona's photoblog every few days. She posted this photo today and I've been staring at it off and on for over an hour now. The blue light and bronze leaves are fascinating. I'd love to discuss this shot if anyone has any thoughts.
Good Will Trusting
Lately I’ve been feeling a little anxious. Things have been going really well for me and I keep worrying there’s a catch. My new job at the web design firm seems like a perfect fit. Love A Child continues to send me work and there is promise of plenty of work to come. Life had been so hard for so long. My debt and my dreams towered over me – seemingly unconquerable. Now, for the first time in a very long time, I’ve regained some confidence. Though the hard years guard me from arrogance, I doubt myself less and less. But I’m uneasy. I don’t deserve this and my natural inclination is to suspect it will be taken away.
I was sharing this with Kristin and she reminded me of Good Will Hunting. Toward the end of the film, Sean (Robin Williams) and Will (Matt Damon) are having their last therapy session in Sean’s lower-level office. Sean is holding Will’s record. He tells him, “You see this shit? It’s not your fault.”
Will says he knows.
Sean says, “No – you don’t. It’s not your fault.” He steps closer.
Will backs up. “I know,” he says.
“No. Listen to me, son. It’s not your fault.” Closer still.
“I know that.”
“It’s not your fault-”
Will fights back tears. “Don’t fuck with me, Sean – not you.”
“It’s not your fault.”
Will shoves him back. With trembling hands, he then buries his face in Sean’s shoulder, sobbing.
Kristin pointed out that this is how we are with God. He steps toward us with with understanding and extends kindness. We (or at least I) say, “Don’t fuck with me, God – not you.” I shove him back – I distrust his goodness. I receive the good gift, but I wonder what’s up his sleeve.
Let the lying lips be mute,
which speak insolently against the righteous
in pride and contempt.
Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of the children of mankind!
-Psalm 31:18-19
Can you hear Me now?
Talk about a wild week. On Tuesday I received/accepted a job offer from Level 10 Design. We’ve been searching/praying for a new job for me for about a month. Today I negotiated a continuation with Love A Child on a part-time basis (which I discussed with my new boss during my second interview – he’s cool with it). This means that gigantic prayer number 2 for the month of March – namely that upon finding another full-time position, Love A Child would want to keep me on at about 20 hours/week – has been answered. The process of seeking employment is sort of exhilarating to me. After reading 48 Days to The Work You Love last spring, I’ve adopted a super pro-active approach to job searching. A couple of quick tips, then I’ll get to the point of this post:
1. To conduct an effective job search, it is essential that you first define what you want to do, what kind of organization/entity you want to do it for and why. The reasons for this are two-fold. One, nobody (worth working for anyway) wants to hire someone who is just looking to do anything. Good employers pick candidates with goals and passions. Second, if you never make time to discern your skills, interests, gifts, and how they align, it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever wind up in a fulfilling career. You’re positioning yourself to be a slave to circumstance.
2. Job postings in newspapers, employment bulletins and online represent about 8% of the job openings out there. If all you’re doing is scanning the want ads and filling out online applications, you’re wasting your time. When I’m looking for a job, first I define what I want to do, whom I’d like to do it for and why. Then I search like crazy for companies and organizations that meet the “who” criteria. I find out who would be the most likely person in charge of hiring for the job I’d like to do and I do three things – three things no matter what. FIRST I send them a cover letter and résumé (preferably snail mail, because a lot of these people get over 100 emails a day and I WANT TO GET NOTICED). In that letter I explain what I want to do for them, why I’m qualified to do it for them, how I’ve made a difference doing it for others, and why I want to do it for them. I don’t ask them to contact me for an interview. I ask them to please accept my call on such and such a morning to discuss any opportunities they may know of. SECOND, I call them just when I said I would. Whether an interview is arranged at that point or not, my THIRD step is to follow up with another letter thanking them for taking the time to speak with me. The only person I’ve never made contact with was the Advertising Creative Director at JC Penney, and that’s because the gentlemen I thought held that position no longer worked there. I got a job somewhere else before I had a chance to find out who the current Creative Director was.
The fact is, most job openings never get advertised because the employer already knows someone who might fill it. Be that someone.
Embarrassingly – that was an aside. The reason I sat down to write has more to do with “hearing” from God. There’s been a lot of discussion about this in our home group and, in light of my career activity, the subject has been on my mind a lot. Let me give you a very practical example of where I’m at. During my job search, an opportunity was presented to me that, had it worked out, it would have required us to move again. Having moved about five times in the past four years, we cringed at the prospect of packing up our life again, pulling up roots again, looking for a church again, and (most of all) being the new people – again. However, the opportunity would have given me a massive head start in Art Direction, which is what I see myself doing in a few years. It also would have likely paid very well. We’re not the kind of people to chase money all over the country, but we are still under the burden of some significant debt.
Naturally, the thing to do here is “pray about it.” This is where I get honest. I’m struggling with what this means exactly. What do I pray for? Some have suggested praying for a closed door or an open door – some kind of “clear guidance from God” as to what road to take. While a closed door is sometimes a helpful discernment tool, I have some problems with this mentality. What if the door isn’t shut – it’s just really stubborn? What about persistence and fight? I mean, don’t get me wrong. If God Almighty shuts a door, it’s shut. I just feel like this ethos yields itself to passive pursuits, which, in my experience, are not very effective or rewarding.
What if both (or multiple) opportunities remain open? How do I pray then? I think it’s good to ask God to help us discern our desires. That’s how I’ve suggested to Kristin we begin praying concerning whether to adopt our next child or try to conceive again. We suffered two miscarriages this year. Both pregnancies were unexpected. The losses were very hard on us. We really want to adopt, we really want to conceive and really want to avoid doing both at the same time! Which do we pursue first? Well we’re going to pray for God to help us see more clearly what it is we want.
Hiccup number two (at least for me): How do I hear from God? Some have suggested that The Holy Spirit will give me peace about things and that’s how I know God approves of or is leading me in a certain direction. The problem is I’ve very peacefully made some stupid decisions in the past. Can we really hear from God outside of reading/meditating on/praying over and about Scripture? I don’t know – maybe, but I’ve never experienced it. Or I have and I’m just not aware of it. For some reason, I get antsy when someone tells me, “God’s telling me to tell you that (insert something encouraging)” or “I think the Lord is speaking to me about (insert some kind of decision).” Couldn’t it be that you just really want to encourage me because you love me? I mean – it’s not like that would be an act of disobedience. And why do decisions made by Christians have to be made by some intangible nudging. The truth is, we’re always acting out our deepest desires. Can’t we just look to scripture to shape them and thank Jesus for redeeming our dark hearts?
What do you think?
Would you love Jesus if …
Walking home from work this evening, I was feeling affectionate toward Jesus. Not overwhelmed by a downpour of emotion, there was drizzling sweetness that accompanied my contemplation on His humanity. Being more aware of my affection than wrapped up in it, I was struck by how little love I felt for my Savior in years past. “If someone had asked me six or seven years ago,” I pondered, “why it is that I love Jesus, what would my response have been?” I answered to myself, “I would have talked about how much I loved Him because of what He did for me on the cross.” This propelled me to think about all of the other reasons (inlcuding the cross) that I love Jesus Christ. In the Bible I get to read about his intimacy with really rough people. I love his patience with people and his enthusiasm over both large gatherings and solitude. Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about his sexual purity and how much he loved, honored and respected women.
“What would I have said,” I mused, “if – six or seven years ago – someone asked me, ‘Would you love Jesus even if He never died on the cross?'” Upon that notion I thought, “Nevermind ‘six or seven years ago!’ What would I say this minute?!” Maybe the first questions is – could I love Jesus if He hadn’t been made a sacrifice for my sins? Would he be any less worthy of my love and affection? Thankfully, this is a hypothetical situation, but would you love Him if this were the case? Could you love Him? Why or why not?
pay cuts, hair cuts, & burning at the stake
For any who don’t already know – my work situation has been a little screwy for a while. My boss has basically been paying $800/mo. for my office, only for me to telecommute from it to Naples, FL – where she is 99% of the time. Monday, she called me at said office and asked me to start working from home. I am very stoked about this. She also said I could take home the computer from the office (again – stoked) and keep it no matter what … (still stoked, but growing uneasy). Then she said she had to cut my salary by 25%. Stoked no more. The upside is, she only exppects 30 hours a week from instead of 40 – giving me time to garner more freelance work.
I’ve been want ing to get a portfolio online for a while and finally hit it hard last week. Donovanworks is at least presentable now. I invite your feedback (and by “feedback” I mean words of praise and encouragement). I spent a lot of time this weekend working on both the site and a minifolio to give to potential clients/employers. Last night was the first free night I’ve had in a very long time. So Kristin and I watched a movie on the laptop in bed.
My friend Rich hates movies directed by Mel Gibson. I think he’s still not seen The Passion of The Christ. Everytime someone mentions The Passion or Braveheart, Rich cries a little inside. Then he encourages them to watch The Passion of Joan of Arc. Originally shot in 1927 by French Director, Carl Th. Dreyer this silent film stars Maria Flaconetti (Jeanne d’Arc).
This film is amazing. It is no exaggeration to say it may be one of the finest examples of cinema to date (and that is what Rich always says). The burning of Joan at the stake is more real and more tasteful than any torture scene I’ve ever witnessed on screen. However, the most moving scene (to me) was when Joan’s hair is being cut as a preparation for her execution. Flaconetti’s performance is superb. It’s raw and emotive and gathers even more power through Dreyer’s vivid close-ups (which he uses unsparingly). This is nothing like Luc Besson’s freaky The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc. The following is from the opening credits of the film:
Shot in France by Carl Th. Dreyer, The Passion of Joan of Arc was the victim of several ordeals. Censored before its release in 1928, the original negative was soon destroyed by fire. A second negative reedited by Dreyer from alternate takes was also thought lost to fire.
For more than a half-century, this great classic of silent film was known only in mutilated copies, or in a sonorized version which made numerous changes to the original.
Then, in 1981, an original Danish copy, complete and in very good condition, was miraculously discovered in a closet of a Norwegian mental institution. Thanks to the aid of Ib Monty, Director of the Danish Film Museum, and of Maurice Drouzy, who reestablished the French text, the Cinematheque Francais has been able to reconstitue this French version, probably very close to the original.
A score for the film, entitled Voices of Light was later composed by Richard Einhorn. The score is optional on the Cirterion Collection DVD. Kristin and I watched the silent film on it’s own last night. I plan to watch it with the music soon. The following appears before the opening credits:
ABOUT THE MUSIC
The Passion of Joan of Arc is a silent film. At the time of its initial release it was presented with various pieces of music performed live, and there is no information that Carl Th. Dreyer ever selected a difinitive score for his film.
However, we feel that Richard Einhorn’s Voices of Light adds an extra dimension to Dreyer’s film, and that both works benefit from being presented together. Not actually a score, but rather music inspired by the film, Einhorn’s work interweaves medieval texts and original music to comment both on the legend of Joan and Dreyer’s depiction of her.
I commend this film to you – all who read this blog. It’s fantastic.
godbit, crossconnector, and a good Tuesday.
Most of you know I’m a web design novice. I’ve been working on the new site for Love A Child for far too long, but I’m finally making some measurable progress. Yesterday I was perusing godbit.com, a web design/development forum for Christian geeks. I posted a problem I was having with my CMS. Not only did the answer confirm that I was right in the first place, but one of the sites authors told me I was “a master in the making.” Make no mistake – this has completely gone to my head.
I guess as a “thank you” to Ryan for his kind words, I’m becoming an evangelist of sorts for his current project – Cross Connector. From crossconnector.com:
CrossConnector helps you plan and manage mission trips and church activities. It works like a blog, so you’ll get your own website where people can read your messages and check out your projects. You can coordinate with churches and missionaries, send messages to supporters (or anyone), post messages like a blog and invite people to leave comments, research and search past and current mission work, and lots more!
This seems like a very helpful tool. I encourage all eight of you who read this blog to check it out and spread the news.
The praise of a peer wasn’t the only nice surprise I received. Finally – after months of begging, I was given an access card to the building I work in. I was also given a key to the timeclock room. No longer will I have to climb through the shrubs to tap on Mark’s window to let me in the building before it’s officially open. No longer will I have to bare scrutiny from my boss for “writing in” my hours on my timecard. I also got to spend time chillin’ with Jaimes last night while Kristin went to a ministry meeting. Hopefully today doesn’t totally blo.
Freaks & Geeks Finale
Kristin and I are mourning the end of a season. Last night we watched the final episode of “Freaks & Geeks.” The series lasted one glorious season. Sadly, it was cancelled just when things were getting really good.
Here’s Netflix’s synopsis (because I’m too lazy to write my own):
Set in a suburban Detroit high school in the early 1980s, this Emmy-nominated drama focuses on the lives of two groups of teens who don’t live in the fabricated, glossy world that most TV shows depict as “normal.” No, Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini) and her brother Sam (John Francis Daly) live in the reality of being less-than-popular that most Americans remember — or try to forget — about their high school years.
What I appreciate most about the show is the casting. Even the popular kids aren’t all that good looking. I mean – for the most part, they’re all teenagers in real life. This isn’t a bunch of 20 somethings playing kids. I think this contributed a lot to the integrity of the story.
My favorite episode is the one when Sam Weir gets locked out of the boys locker room wearing only a towel. The other boys fianlly open the door. Instead of letting him in, they steal his towel. Maybe one of the funniest streaking scenes ever filmed. Yes – my sense of humor is that base.
Turn Back for Bread
I was telling a friend this morning that, for whatever reason, my grief over our recent miscarriage has illuminated the splendor of Christ in more areas of my life than ever. I have been experiencing what I usually describe as a “brief period of spiritual dryness” for the past 4 years. Lately, my sorrow over my sin has been increasing together with my hunger for more intimacy with Jesus. This word form Spurgeon was like music to me this morning:
“Tell me where you lost the company of Christ, and I will tell you the most likely place to find him. Have you lost Christ in the closet by restraining prayer? Then it is there you must seek and find him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find Christ in no other way but by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to mortify the member in which the lust doth dwell. Did you lose Christ by neglecting the Scriptures? You must find Christ in the Scriptures. It is a true proverb, ‘Look for a thing where you dropped it, it is there.’ So look for Christ where you lost him, for he has not gone away. But it is hard work to go back for Christ. Bunyan tells us, the pilgrim found the piece of the road back to the Arbour of Ease, where he lost his roll, the hardest he had ever travelled. Twenty miles onward is easier than to go one mile back for the lost evidence.”
If anyone knows of a song that illustrates this (probably a hymn – but contemporary may be ok), I’d love to host it here (if that’s even possible).
“Shit, fuck, goddamn.”
There’s this scene in the movie Saved that always makes me cry. I was just struck with why for the first time. Upon learning her boyfriend is a homosexual, Mary (Jenna Malone) tries to “heal his sickness” by losing her virginity with him. The intimate encounter yeilds more confusion for the boyfriend and a bun in the oven for Mary. The scene that always gets me is when she gets off the bus after visiting the pregnancy crisis center. Walking past a church, she stops and looks up at the cross on the steeple. The camera looks down on her from the towering height of the cross. Looking up at us, with anger and brokeness, she begins, “Shit. …” The camera begins a slow descent. Mary continues – a little more desperate now, “Fuck. …” Smoothly, gracefully and seemingly intentionally, we continue down toward her until we are face to face. With quiet desperation she closes the scene with a resolute “God-damn.”
The reason this moves me is because the camera movement communicates Christ’s movement in the scene. Mary is hurting tremendously. She’s mad at God, but his compassion is unwavering. “The Cross” in this scene descends toward her despite her tongue. As an on-looker, the camera movement forces me to set aside judgement and honestly engage in this dialogue. I don’t know why I’m posting about this. It’s just something that suddenly struck me and made me cry. I felt like sharing that.
Netflix, The Office, & Huffing Gasoline
While I appreciate both the culture and mission of independant movie renters like Vulcan Video, my enthusiasm over netflix is unwavering. They’ve taken the customer service and selection offered by the mom & pop’s video store of days gone by, pumped it with steroids and speed and posted it online. Even though most people watch a lot of movies, few people have much variety in their rental hsitory. Since signing up for my 3-at-a-time account, my DVD player has seen more documentaries, foreign films, independant productions, and TV series than my blockbuster/hollwyood video excursions have ever yielded. For the uninitiated, “3 at a time” means that, though I am allotted unlimited rentals for my $19.73 per month, I’m able to rent as many as three DVDs at a time.
While not every rental experience is a good one, the diamonds are worth the rough. On her brother’s recommendation, Kristin added the British mockumentary series The Office to our queue. For some reason we recieved the christmas special first. It was hysterical.
“If you’re leading your troops into certain death, you can’t lead them with jokes – can you. They’re not going to say ‘oi – this bloke’s funny, let’s follow him to our certain death.’ No, you tell them ‘Follow me. Why? Because I said so.’ They’ll look at you and say to one another, ‘look at this fella – he’s got good leadership skills – let’s follow him to our certain death.'”
I’ve probably overlooked these discs a thousand times at the store in favor of a new realease or a “sure to entertain” box office hit.
Ok, Ok The Office won two golden globes in 2004 – Best Television series and Best Actor in a leading role. So it’s not some obscure little unknown sitcom. But had we never put it on our queue, we never would have rented it. When I’m renting DVDs at $4 a pop, I want there to be little to no chance of it being a bad experience.
Take Love Liza for instance. We rented it from Blockbuster last night. I know, I know – why rent if we have netflix? We were waiting on two movies and the one at home was some Baby Einstein thing for Jaimes. Yes – we’re that compulsive. We couldn’t wait a day.
Philip Seymour Hoffman is one of my favorite actors. I marvel at his ability as an actor, but his characters are very often desperate, broken, losers destined to fail (e.g. Boogie Nights, Happiness, Owning Mahowney). Love Liza is no different. Watch the trailer and tell me it doesn’t look like a light-hearted story about a mentally handicapped man who has lost his wife. Well, I’ll tell you right now – Wilson Joel (Hoffman) isn’t mentally handicapped. But he does huff gasoline and he does lose everything. I went to bed depressed. It was a scary look at a really ugly addiction and a severly hopeless man. The difficult thing about this story is that we’re only told half of it. We don’t know who Wilson was before his wife killed herself. Why she did it, though intriguing, is not necessary information. Not knowing from whence came his downward spiral makes it really difficult to identify with him.
I’d be interested to hear other’s takes on this film.
Christmas Tree Trippin’
Thank you to everyone who convinced me to lay off the caffeine. Now I’ve started hallucinating. Either that or someone really left a 7ft. christmas tree on my doorstep last night along with a big red bag of lights and ornaments and no note or evidence of where the items were purchased. The fact that Jaimes kept pointing at it, saying “twee! twee!” as if to ask, “what’s with the giant holiday tree on our door mat?” reassured me I wasn’t just jonesing for the java.
Why would someone do this? Are they offended by the 4ft. Charlie Brown tree already standing proudly on the coffee table in our livingroom corner/office? Have they mistaken us for someone else? I can only assume it’s from some acquaintence of Kimberly Morton – the prior tenant who never forwarded her mail, which is currently coming to us daily in the form of Christmas cards, cooking magazines, and various women’s clothing catalogs. We sincerely hope the mysterious tree-gifter learns of his mistake before the holiday is over. I’d say there is around $150 – $250 worth of tree and tree accessories currently sitting on our doorstep awating the emabarrased return of our anonymous decoration-angel. Weird.
And… Thank you, Rachel. The Narnia Rap made my morning!
stuff to learn & time to burn … or not.
Last night, driving home from slingin’ coffee, I got really excited about the website I’m working on for Love A Child. I’ve been trying to force a design for a couple weeks that just isn’t right for our organization. Last night I caught a vision for something much better. At 11:00 pm, caffeine coursing through my veins, I was telling Kristin all about it.
“This is the career for you,” she said. “This is right where you should be.”
“Why do you say that?” I asked as I hung up my jacket.
“Because you can afford to be indecisive for a while – in fact, it’s a good thing. You’re always like. ‘I’m doing this with my life – no wait, I’m going to do this. Or … maybe I’ll do this other thing instead.’ Your job right now kind of requires you to keep questioning what you’re doing.” (This is paraphrased – Kristin was actually much less wordy.)
So anyway – I’m stoked about my new idea. Here’s my problem: I’m horrible with time management (cue blog). In the past I’ve gotten along all right despite my daydreaming, unbridled web-surfing, and debilitating adversity to multi-tasking. Why is this becoming an issue now? A little background:
Hired on here a few months ago as a graphic designer, I was told that – eventually – we would want to bring our website in-house and that they’d pay for my learning curve (because I told them in my interview I’d never touched web design before). This was all true – which is awesome because I’m getting payed handsomely to learn a very valuable skill. What wasn’t so clear was that “eventually” bringing our site in-house really meant “ideally by February ’06.”
Furthermore – I’m a perfectionist, or at least I really, really try to be. What I mean is, though I’m not meticulous, I do like to do good work. Since I’m the only web designer here, this is going to mean learning a lot more than just graphics for the web. Tackling all of this for the first time, my studying is taking a lot of tangents (and coffee breaks). I’ve got a fairly decent handle on CSS and XHTML. Now, while continuing to enhance those skills, I’m wanting to learn PHP, Javascripting, and get better in Flash. Does anyone have any suggestions on 1) developing better time management skills and/or 2) streamlining my flow of learning in these areas (e.g. CSS – PHP – Java – Flash – etc.)?
The good news is I’m really motivated to learn and have covered a lot of ground in a short amount of time. The bad news is I’m really motivated because I’m very caffienated and coffee renders me both wildly imaginative and mournfully unproductive (once again – I’m still writing this blog instead of learning or actually making something). I’m afraid to quit caffeine because, while I may get more done, I’m worried my work will be mediocre. It makes me think I ought to pray for a natural spirit of excitement tempered with some focus/sobriety.
I guess I’m really juiced right now because I read some articles on A List Apart that I’d been looking for for a while. I also stumbled on another really helpful site that answered some technique conundrums I’ve been facing concerning rounded edges and CSS.
Seriously though – ANY advice is appreciated. Unless you just tell me to make a list. I need intense help because all previous attempts to actually make a list and then both maintain it and keep it handy have fallen short of success.
Jesus and the Elves
Scott Wilder read the following on the radio today. I heard it on my way home from work. A discussuion ensued thereafter about the secularization of Christmas – namely, the replacement of the word “christmas” with the word “holiday.” Turns out a lot of right wing Texans are pretty pissed about it. I ended up calling in and offering another take. Anyway – I have no idea who wrote this. If anyone knows, fill me in so I can properly site the source John Leo wrote this for U.S. News and World Report. I (originally) found it on Wilder’s site.
Jesus and the Elves
And Joseph went up from Galilee to Bethlehem with Mary, his espoused wife, who was great with child. And she brought forth a son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn. And the angel of the Lord spoke to the shepherds and said, “I bring you tidings of great joy. Unto you is born a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
“There’s a problem with the angel,” said a Pharisee who happened to be strolling by. As he explained to Joseph, angels are widely regarded as religious symbols, and the stable was on public property where such symbols were not allowed to land or even hover.
“And I have to tell you, this whole thing looks to me very much like a Nativity scene,” he said sadly. “That’s a no-no, too.”
Joseph had a bright idea. “What if I put a couple of reindeer over there near the ox and ass?” he said, eager to avoid sectarian strife.
“That would definitely help,” said the Pharisee, who knew as well as anyone that whenever a savior appeared, judges usually liked to be on the safe side and surround it with deer or woodland creatures of some sort. “Just to clinch it, throw in a candy cane and a couple of elves and snowmen, too,” he said. “No court can resist that.”
Mary asked, “What does my son’s birth have to do with snowmen?”
“Snowpersons,” cried a young woman, changing the subject before it veered dangerously toward religion.
Off to the side of the crowd, a Philistine was painting the Nativity scene. Mary complained that she and Joseph looked too tattered and worn in the picture. “Artistic license,” he said. “I’ve got to show the plight of the haggard homeless in a greedy, uncaring society in winter,” he quipped.
“We’re not haggard or homeless. The inn was just full,” said Mary.
“Whatever,” said the painter.
Two women began to argue fiercely. One said she objected to Jesus’ birth “because it privileged motherhood.” The other scoffed at virgin births, but said that if they encouraged more attention to diversity in family forms and the rights of single mothers, well, then, she was all for them.
“I’m not a single mother,” Mary started to say, but she was cut off by a third woman who insisted that swaddling clothes are a form of child abuse, since they restrict the natural movement of babies. With the arrival of 10 child advocates, all trained to spot infant abuse and manger rash, Mary and Joseph were pushed to the edge of the crowd, where arguments were breaking out over how many reindeer (or what mix of reindeer and seasonal sprites) had to be installed to compensate for the infant’s unfortunate religious character. An older man bustled up, bowling over two merchants, who had been busy debating whether an elf is the same as a fairy and whether the elf/fairy should be shaking hands with Jesus in the crib or merely standing to the side, jumping around like a sports mascot.
“I’d hold off on the reindeer,” the man said, explaining that the use of asses and oxen as picturesque backdrops for Nativity scenes carries the subliminal message of human dominance. He passed out two leaflets, one denouncing manger births as invasions of animal space, the other arguing that stables are “penned environments” where animals are incarcerated against their will. He had no opinion about elves or candy canes.
Signs declaring “Free the Bethlehem 2” began to appear, referring to the obviously exploited ass and ox. Someone said the halo on Jesus’ head was elitist.
Mary was exasperated. “And what about you, old mother?” she said sharply to an elderly woman. “Are you here to attack the shepherds as prison guards for excluded species, maybe to complain that singing in Latin identifies us with our Roman oppressors, or just to say that I should have skipped patriarchal religiosity and joined some dumb new-age goddess religion?”
“None of the above,” said the woman, “I just wanted to tell you that the Magi are here.” Sure enough, the three wise men rode up.
The crowd gasped, “They’re all male!” And “Not very multicultural!” “Balthasar here is black,” said one of the Magi. “Yes, but how many of you are gay or disabled?” someone shouted. A committee was quickly formed to find an impoverished lesbian wise-person among the halt and lame of Bethlehem.
A calm voice said, “Be of good cheer, Mary, you have done well and your son will change the world.” At last, a sane person, Mary thought. She turned to see a radiant and confident female face. The woman spoke again: “There is one thing, though. Religious holidays are important, but can’t we learn to celebrate them in ways that unite, not divide? For instance, instead of all this business about ‘Gloria in excelsis Deo,’ why not just ‘Season’s Greetings’?”
Mary said, “You mean my son has entered human history to deliver the message, ‘Hello, it’s winter’?”
“That’s harsh, Mary,” said the woman. “Remember, your son could make it big in midwinter festivals, if he doesn’t push the religion thing too far. Centuries from now, in nations yet unborn, people will give each other pricey gifts and have big office parties on his birthday. That’s not chopped liver.”
“Let me get back to you,” Mary said.
Normally, I hate conservative talk radio. But Wilder’s a pretty fair host. His reading of this was hilarious. On further reflection however, I had to ask mysef, “Should I expect anything else from a pagan population?” As a national holiday, christmas has become many things to many people that it shouldn’t be. What’s the Christ-like response to all of this?
Well – what do you guys think? I’ll offer my opinion after I have the opportunity to read everyone else’s and discern what the most unique thing would be to say. That’s the priveledge of the facilitator.
Wait ... what? 
