7 Quick Takes (XXII)

1. I worked for a few hours on Saturday, taking pictures of artefacts in a sort of photo studio I made with portable lighting and white screens. This was for my exhibit. The previous photos had been too blurry. I can't recall the afternoon. What I can tell you is that it persisted in being cold. (I don't suppose there's any point in telling you that it's "cold," though, because unless you live north of Wandering River, you cannot understand the meaning of the word.)

2. Sunday. I went to church in the morning. There was some laying on of hands. This wasn't a healing service, but a gesture of asking the Holy Spirit to come down into the people beside us. I was not used to this, and I cramped up a bit holding an awkward position. (That, friends, is called bathos. Look it up.)

Then, in the afternoon, there was shopping for snow pants, which wound up being nice and warm. Also, a Secret Santa gift was purchased.

3. Monday. It was cold. There were assorted problems with buildings at work, including doors that would not open and furnaces that gave up and fire alarms that were going off. I managed to fix the alarm and reset the furnace, but I was no hope at the door. That, though, has now been fixed.

4. Tuesday. I cannot recall any particular event on Tuesday--I did buy more Secret Santa type things, but that can wait for Thursday. So instead I will tell you that I've still been reading The World's Religions. There are some problems with this book, which I will address in a review-type post, but here I will indicate that I think this book is on the required reading list of being a citizen of humanity. It does a very good job of making sense of the world's religions from (largely) their own perspectives, which is something pretty much every person I have ever met--including myself--desperately needs. (Yes, I mean you. Some need it more than others, but you can be quite sure that, whoever you are, I mean you.) You are allowed to wait until I've written my review, without which I am quite sure you will be misled into sin and ignorance. (And that, ladies and gentlemen, is hyperbole. Look it up.)

5. Wednesday. I volunteered at the Snowflake Soiree, which was a shindig put on in conjunction with the arrival of the Winter Lights judges. In case you don't want to bother clicking the link, Winter Lights is a contest which judges contestant community's festive spirit and blatant disregard for energy conservation. My Mom was doing a children's craft table, and I was helping her. I spent most of the evening helping a high-maintenance girl named Ella make a doll/puppet/glove with a pom-pom for a head. I got brief breaks when she ran off to see Rave the Raven ("Can I go see Wave one mowa time?"). All in all, it was a pretty decent evening.

6. Thursday. We had our Secret Santa deal. I got my recipient a pink hat (he hates pink) and put it in a bag with his name on it. Inside the hat were instructions that the big bag under the tree with a "?" on it was also his. Inside that were the real presents--chocolates and a calendar with horses on it. (I tried to find a calendar with horses being ridden by beautiful women wearing only hockey jerseys while the Dixie Chicks and the Barenaked Ladies played in the background, but apparently they don't sell that calendar, so horses would have to do.) Unfortunately, he didn't find the instructions as soon as I thought he would. He thought that was his actual present, and reasoned that it was for his daughter. He was good about it, but I could tell he was disappointed. I almost caved and told him to look in the hat, but he found it in the end and was happy. I also got a good gift--a game called "Catch Phrase"--but that is less interesting to me than giving the present.

After that we went to the restaurant in the Sawridge. The boss paid for us all to eat at the buffet, and I did what everyone does at a buffet, which is overeat. It was a good night.

7. And today is Friday. It was -19 this morning and -3.9 in the afternoon. For those of you luxuriating in the desert and who forget what it was looking like last week, that's balmy. I didn't wear my neck warmer or my snow pants. It seems the meteorologists were on the game after all. There was a bit of moisture in the air, too, for which I was grateful. We don't have much more than a few inches of snow, though. -35 and lower weather makes you appreciate the warm stuff. (Note: all temperatures are in Celsius. If you don't "do" Celsius, then I suggest you start.)

OK. That's all.

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