Report from the Edges of the Grindstone

It was a rough week at work, but there were some bright spots on the horizon.

I was able to get away on Tuesday night for a small group discussion of Girl Meets God (seems to be in the same general genre - i.e., modern Christian writing/memoir - as Boy Meets Girl, and has a similar style of photograph on the cover in terms of color scheme and lighting, although GMG involves a bit more promiscuity than BMG). GMG is a bit disjointed chronologically, which may be done to protect the identity of the people discussed. We were meeting to discuss the first half of the book using the hideously simplistic study guide questions, but the book actually gets more interesting toward the second half when she sheds some of her flakiness. I have to say that Lauren Winner, the first "G" of GMG (and the book's author) comes across as really young -- when I was her age I was a lot more mature than she. Of course, it may have helped that I had flatmates who were in their late 30s or early 40s during the first few years after I graduated from college. On second thought, that's not it; I was already mature enough to deal with them when I moved in. In fact, when I was just 6 years old, my mom caught me giving good, sensible advice to a woman who'd screwed up her life in various ways and then made the additional mistake of telling me her life story. (The woman apparently asked my mom, "Is this your daughter? She must be a dwarf!") I think I may have born with a kind of maturity, the kind that you get by applying logic and reason and common sense to everyday life. Naturally, this doesn't solve all problems. I certainly have some deep pockets of immaturity, especially in the areas where reason can only suppress, but not eradicate, emotion. But I digress. Our group had a wide variety of reactions to the reading. I was pretty much in the middle -- one person loved it, someone else couldn't even get through more than a chapter, annoyed by the deliberately informal writing style. I lingered over pizza with my annoyed friend afterward, exchanging stories.

On Thursday night I snuck away for dinner with my brother and a friend of his - they were in town for a business meeting with their client (my adversary). Had some warm, salty edamame (it's so fun to pop them out of their shells), vegetarian spring rolls (wrapped in thin, crisp layers), and avocado "sushi" rolls (amazingly fresh, unlike the ones I get at the local deli).

And tonight I wrapped things up at a reasonable hour and was able to meet up with a friend who is running a half-marathon tomorrow. (Good luck! Go for that personal record!)

That's it for now. Good night!