the scriptorium

Sunday, December 29, 2002

Well, it's been a week since I posted in here, and what a week! I had thought about posting from Mom and Dad's while I was there for Christmas, but "it seemed good to us and to the Holy Spirit" to just lie around and watch TV, mostly. It was a good rest, and good to be with the folks. And, yes, we exchanged gifties, which, I admit, is still fun. Probably the best gift I got was this killer bathrobe and slippers from my folks, which is sooooo comfy that it's hard to part with it and get dressed for work in the mornings. Could be dangerous! Probably the best gift I gave (apart from the calligraphy I gave Matt--that one was hard to top because it was, after all, handmade by moi) was a gift I picked up at the last minute to flesh out the stuff I was giving to my Dad. He's so hard to buy for because he has no patience with getting gifts of stuff he doesn't want or need, and usually if there's something he wants or needs, he just goes out and buys it himself. So I have to try to think of things he wants but doesn't know he wants. This year I managed it by accident with the gift of one of those car-washing mitts that's made out of fleece to simulate lamb's wool. After Dad opened it and appeared to really be happy with it, Mom and I just kind of looked at each other as though to say, "Hey Mikey! He likes it!" A real coup.

I finally got around to going over to Joseph-Beth (our local bookstore) and picking up the copy of The Springs of Contemplation I had ordered before Christmas. The copy from the library was overdue, so I'm glad to have my own copy to take as long as I need to "contemplate" over. Look for more quotes in the near future, especially concerning Merton's thoughts on Zen vs. Christianity. The two are more similar than I would have thought and reading about Merton's version of Zen has illuminated some things for me about the practice of Christianity. No more on that just now, just let's say it begins to appear that we are making a lot of things way too complicated.

A bunch of us went out last night to dinner at this killer Middle Eastern restaurant, Alladin's, and to see "The Two Towers". Dinner was one of the best I've ever eaten, and I've eaten more than my share. :^P The movie was great, also; I begin to see Alan's point about the spiritual parallels in the story. I think I most identified with Gollum/Smeigel's struggle with transforming himself back into a bearable person. He even "prayed" something that could have come out of my own inner dialogue: when Gollum and Smeigel are struggling for dominance, Smeigel says to Gollum, "Go away from here and never come back!"(Or words to that effect.) And he does, for a while. I have said the very same thing to the destructive, negative thoughts in my own head when temptations or just a pity party threatened to overwhelm me. As I told Alan, I'm just thankful that my inner dialogues don't happen out loud, like Gollum's do. I'd be locked away if they did!

Once again, I seem to be using blogging as an excuse for not doing other things that I need to be doing, like dishes, laundry, and grocery shopping. So I guess I'm off to the store. Maybe the dishes will get done, too; I think laundry's a wash for today (pun intended). So, off I go, then!

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