My Righteous Indignation » From the nation of Indig

Maybe this is a rerun.

MRI Webmaster — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:04:17 +0000

I may have talked about this before, but if I can’t remember, chances are neither can you. I am indebted to The Blarg’s recent post for generating my thoughts as stated below.

Freedom. I believe it can be conceived of in two primary ways. Firstly, there is “freedom from.” We may conceive of freedom as the state of being free from a variety of perceived encumbrances: commitment, responsibility, rules, limits, norms, morality. Secondly, there is “freedom for.” In this manner, “encumbrances,” such as commitment, limitations, etc., are seen as an opportunity to focus our energies on being completely and unreservedly free for devotion to a beloved object, be it God, a spouse, friend, or calling. I consider it no accident that the word “love” crept into that last definition. Love, when defined not as a fleeting feeling or attraction but instead as an act of lasting commitment, must be freedom for…devotion to the beloved, commitment to vows, sacrifice of self, and denial of those things which compete with love for the beloved. Love driven by “freedom from” will eventually find commitment a burden and, as indeed it is, a limitation, and the desire to be free from the beloved eventually asserts itself and commitments dissolve in favor of freedom for whatever the almighty self desires.

A wise professor once discoursed on the subject of Adam and Eve’s choice in the garden. They could live at the center, seeking to live within the confines of God’s directives and love, daily choosing not to leave him, not to know firsthand the choice offered by that seemingly wise and tempting fruit tree. Or they could live at the periphery, seeking to push limits and experiment with what life free from the love and direction of God felt like. In the end, they experimented with being free from God. They ate the fruit, they crossed the outer boundary of the garden, and they never returned. They broke faith, and lost a degree of love and closeness with the Creator God which men and women will never again experience in our earthly lifetimes.

Likewise, we daily choose how to use the freedom we possess. Are you freed for something, or seeking to be free from something? Seeking to live as deep inside love as possible, or seeking to experiment with its boundaries?

Because the community at large on FB just wouldn’t appreciate much of this.

MRI Webmaster — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:51:37 +0000

For Erin and Sarah Shead: I just finished watching North and South and boy was it awesomer than awesome and boy do I need a poster of Richard Armitage. Will he be in the upcoming edition of Teen Beat, do you think?

For Angelo: Where can I get Illy coffee cheaper than at the market? $14 for 8oz. Who am I, Rockefeller?

Cory and Tommy: No TV this Thursday. We go dancing that night before we leave for HS winter camp.

Tommy: Did you eat all those Oreos yourself?

Overheard at Disneyland

MRI Webmaster — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 08:48:46 +0000

Conversation the first, overheard in the loo…

Girl in the bathroom #1: I wanna go on Thunder Mountain.
Girl in the bathroom #2: What? Magic Mountain?
Girl in the bathroom #1: No Thunder Mountain.
Girl in the bathroom #2: I don’t know that one. Where is it?
Girl in the bathroom #1: Um, Pioneerland.

Conversation the second, overheard on the tram ride back…

Mom (to chubby kid): You’re gonna need a Slurpee on the way home, aren’t you?

Saturday. Every day is Saturday.

MRI Webmaster — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:54:58 +0000

First free week and my house is getting cleaner by the moment. It’d be even cleaner if I didn’t drag Paul out dancing three times this week. Mondays at Memories are quite reliably fun lately. You new swing babies should stick around for dancing at 9pm. Only $3. Thursday a few brave souls headed out to Pasadena. Bit of a hit and miss night, but did get to dance with a much loved childhood science icon. Friday night we lazily and eventually headed out to Irvine and danced until 11:30. Smallish crowd, but very fun. Okay folks, back on the horse next week. I know it’s Thanksgiving on Thursday, but Monday and Friday night are business as usual!

I’m unemployed!

MRI Webmaster — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:04:38 +0000

On the bright side, I have a brand new computer to type blogs about unemployment on.

Agenda for 11/10/09

MRI Webmaster — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:49:17 +0000

1. I am unemployed as of 11/13/09. Yup, that’s Friday the 13th.
2. In a related vein, my swing dancing addiction is still picking up speed, so it’ll be nice to have all those 40 pesky hours of work free to devote to more important endeavors.
3. Does anyone want to start paying me to swing dance? You might, if you knew how much fun I was having. Sort of a charitable thing wherein you could be supporting the increase of joy and crazy-fun in the universe.
4. All the squirrels at my neighborhood parks are hibernating. It’s bumming me out.
5. Not hibernating: a black neighborhood cat that Paul has been feeding which thinks it can use the threat of violent mauling to get whatever it wants from me.
6. Mayonnaise is delicious.
7. Lindy Groove this Thursday?

It’s a Three Squirrel Day!

MRI Webmaster — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:45:36 +0000

There are parks on all my routes home. No matter how I try, I cannot help but pass a park on my commute.

Last week, I drove by El Dorado and, according to my usual custom, peeled the old eyeballs for squirrels. Two were playing – or fighting to the death – under a tree, and then another was running on the sidewalk. That’s three squirrels.

I can get excited about a two squirrel day, but THREE? Gosh. It was a good day.

Today, I found a quarter in the hall at work. I won’t stop for a penny, and nickels and dimes aren’t much to judge by, but a found QUARTER day is a good day.

I know what you’re thinking, it’s Monday! Monday is never a good day. But Monday is always dance day, and that’s always good. It’s also Monday after a weekend wherein I shirked all work-related responsibilities, probably for the first time since licensure and boy is that good for me. Squirrels never work. (I don’t count hiding nuts. You can’t get a W2 for that.) And what’s good for a squirrel, is good enough for me.

Best week ever!

MRI Webmaster — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 22:24:35 +0000

I’m having it (the best week ever). In no particular order, this week I am having:

-So much fun dancing.
-Job opportunities.
-Good books.
-Good company.
-Good time teaching (and first paycheck).
-Amazing weather.
-An amazing new gray dress.

Permanent addresses of the past.

MRI Webmaster — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 05:47:52 +0000

We have hardwood floors, and I spent time today mopping gobs of dust and spiders off the floor underneath our bed. I found many wondrous things, not the least of which is an old copy of Mere Christianity. My dad’s name, complete with the address we last lived at in 1987 and a phone number of similar vintage, are listed on the flyleaf.

Anyone else get weirdly nostalgic when reciting the address and phone number of your youngest childhood? That ever-so-important information which you had to have ready for your kindergarten teacher so that you could also deliver it faithfully to the police should your six-year-old self ever be found wandering lost after a night of revelry. 8722 Cavel Street still has a nice, comforting ring to it.

I’m not very good at peace. Ok, I’m awful. Terrible at it, actually,

MRI Webmaster — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 05:59:53 +0000

but it has been a peaceful week. No deadlines. Everything on my to do list is there because I put it there, and is to a degree negotiable. Several times this week I have found myself reading a book, and realized that there is nothing else I needed to be doing instead. My God, what a gift! Many new challenges to face, but none of them are a dissertation or a 20 page paper or a year working as a student for minimum wage (even unemployment is preferable to these). I attempt to await, in peace, whatever God has for me next.