Dough!

So I was ruminating whether to order a Diet Coke with my pizza delivery. Soda goes great with pizza. Diet Coke is my preferred beverage (disclaimer: water being my preferred liquid refreshment). But if I order the 16oz bottle, than they know that, hey, I'm all by myself. And should I ordered the 64 oz bottle than I end up paying $2.50 for what I ought to be able to get at the store for $1.00. (Let's just ignore the curious pricing schema of soda companies where double the soda is the same price.) Finally, I decide that my pocketbook is ethically opposed to the profit margin that companies reap from soda sales.

Twenty minutes after I place my order I notice the bottom line. Waaait. This pizza is more expensive than I thought it was. Then I notice it. I came out under the minimum order, so they'd penalized me with a delivery fee. The fee? $2. The amount I needed to spend to avoid the fee? $2. Do!

Note to self: next time don't be so eager to punch in my credit card number to get my pizza on the way so that I can stop cleaning the apt (or avoiding cleaning the apt) so I can get on with my movie night such that I don't pay attention to what the pizza folks are charging me. They're trixy and take my money whenever I let them.

New Calling Surprise

I check my voice mail after work. "Hi Janell. This is G from the ward. I wasn't there on Sunday, so I don't know if you were set apart or not. Still, could you give the lesson this Sunday? Its from the Joseph Smith manual. I'm sorry for the short notice. Please give me a call either way."

Um. Hi. I haven't received a new calling. So either I've now gotten forewarning that the bishopric will be talking to me, or G was given false information at some point. Still, I love teaching. So I return the call to G.

"Hi, G. This is Janell."

"Hi Janell." Pause. Darn, I was hoping she'd start up the conversation.

"I got your message. First, I'd love to teach, but I haven't been called to be a teacher."

"Oh. Oops."

Yeah, oops in deed.

So hey! This Sunday I get to teach the RS lesson, and I get forewarning of a new calling. The new question is will I be released from my current position (which I don't care for much), or will I be expected to serve in both callings? This ward has so few consistent, core members that I wouldn't be surprised if I end up keeping both. So, yeah. Yay me.

Divergant Attention

Ever since I started my full-time job and completed (yay! I passed!) my thesis, I find that I just don't have the patience for my old online routines. I check blogs less frequently. I don't play any games (e.g. Tetris or Catan) online. I read fewer stories. I surf the web less (though I read the news more). And tending to my own blog? Obviously I do that much less than I use to.

The real difference is I used to have an excess of quick breaks throughout the day, and now they're only just long enough and at such a frequency I just check my email, Facebook, and maybe the news. In some ways everything going on in my life right now falls under "work" or "dating" - two topics I don't blog about. In other ways everything else is working on all of my unfinished projects over the past few years. I've finally been able to dig into my Family History research. I've finally, finally finished the McGonnigal cloak I started back at the first movie release. I'd start working down my list of sewing projects except I have yet to figure out which box my sewing machine pedal is in. My packing is starting to draw near to completion. I've read several book from my own library and from my, "To Read After I Graduate," list. There's a lot going on in the non-virtual life of me.

It's kind of weird. It's kind of nice. And it's quite surprising I have yet to have a moment of boredom now that the thesis pressure is gone.

Salty Times

My favorite aspect of a Seder service are the eating of the salty parsley (um, yeah, I can't remember its real term). Its a bit of an odd thing to like the best when there are the more well known aspects of saving a seat for Elijah, the breaking of the Matzah, or the eating of the bitter herbs. I like the salt because of its complex reminder. The first reminds me of the sweat of the children of Israel as the labored under the Egyptians, of the tears of grief of the Egyptians as their firstborns were died and the tears of relief of the Israelite as they were spared, and of the of the salty waters of the Red Sea as it parted to permit the Israelites their freedom. The salt itself recalls many verses in the scriptures about the salt of the earth, and also how at one time salt was a precious commodity. When I grimace over the harsh taste of salt it also reminds me that too much salt will cause ill health and too little salt will likewise call ill health. Salt is essential despite its lack of tastiness on its own.

This year I wasn't able to attend a Seder for Passover, yet I was reminded of the salt as I was digging through my family history treasure box (yup, I'll be doing that for some time). Contained therein are several unhappy letters between family members. Some are reporting the painful effects of a surgery. Others are worrying about the declining health of a family member. Yet another expressed extreme worry about the life choice of another family member. Contained therein are also many happy letters between family members including comments about the birth of a new child and congratulations on achievements long-earned.

Family history is about the bad times as well as the good times. It's also about the poor times: the poor choices and the hard times. Its interesting to be able to read about other's reactions to their struggles and learning the outcomes of the struggles. In some cases is the labor to accomplish a task. In other cases its the worrying of outcome of the declining health (how little time was really left). In yet other cases its the rejoicing in a successful surgery. Its interesting to see how the salty times of tears - both happy and sad - are an integral part of life.