7QT

1. Camille Paglia's excellent wit.

via Salon

2. Cecil the lion was a tragedy, 

but mob justice is always a tree away from a lynching.
via Vox

3. Yay for Sam's Club!

Bad times for olive and olive oil, but I'm glad I just bought this in bulk from Sam's Club. Hey, I'll take my wins where I can!

4. Leave it to CBS to cover the Planned Parenthood scandal 

 as "an invasion of privacy." The court order is only temporary. Talking to someone does not an invasion of privacy make.

5. Fascinating, Dear Watson

IBM's computer wants to predict patient outcomes before they happen, but is this wise?

6. Awh, theyr'e kinda cute

New species of wolf

7. Because I'm a science nerd

Gazing back through geologic time

The Roads Not Taken

I've spent a lot of my recent years thinking a lot about the choices I wish I had made instead of the ones I did. I wish I had stuck out my original plan to be a doctor, instead of the non-STEM degree I got. I think of old relationships, and wonder if I would have had a husband and children for years, instead of being single while all of my friends get married.I think of the jobs I didn't apply for and the risks I didn't take.

It's easy to live a life full of regret of all sorts. A wisp of nostalgia can seem benign, but it is so easy to wind up wallowing. The reality is that most of these regrets are phantoms, not reality. We made the choices we made for a reason. Yes, we may have grown or have new information we wish we could have acted upon. Maybe our choices would have been different, but the reality is that we did not have that information. We had not grown enough to make that other decision. We did the best we could through prayer and prudence.

That original plan I had at eighteen? If I had taken that path, I would have almost nothing of my current life. I wouldn't have the same friends. I wouldn't have my own place, or even my cat. I would never have met the man I love if I had married early. My original plan definitely did not involve converting to Catholicism, and that would have never happened if I had attended a different college.

Nostalgia is a human emotion, and is fine in small doses. A life filled with regret is like letting silly little foxes spoil the vineyard of content.

Cocktail Parties

I need to try to bring this back. Currently my friends are enmeshed in Babyland, which means going out doesn't happen anymore.

9 Reasons to Bring Back Cocktail Parties via the HuffPo

7QT

1. Kon Mari

So I got the brilliant idea of going for the KonMari method of getting rid of all the excess junk that has been cluttering up my place. Just for the record, it is not for the faint of heart. I have 3 trash bags full of clothes, and I'm not through with my wardrobe. I'm not sure how I got all of this stuff.

Naturally, the cat helped. By help I mean he took a nice long nap on top of clean clothes.

2. Tomato Season

The happy part of this part of the year is that it is now tomato season. I hate slices of tomato on sandwiches in restaurants. They are so slimy and tasteless. I do love the homegrown variety, and am so glad my little experiement with container gardening is going so well.

The green stuff is homemade pesto, with basil I grew. Yes, I'm proud, and no, I have no shame. ;-)

3. Sunsets

In between all of the rain we've gotten recently there have been some gorgeous Oklahoma sunsets. Yes, we may have earthquakes and tornadoes and fires and ice storms, but when I see a sunset like this, I think it's all worth it.

4. So cute!

I had no clue this was even a thing, but how can a fruit be cuter than a baby pineapple?

5. Marriage advice for wedding season

Treat marriage as an unbreakable, lifelong commitment: “Rather than seeing marriage as a voluntary partnership that lasts only as long as the passion does, the elders propose a mindset in which it is a profound commitment to be respected, even if things go sour over the short term. Many struggled through dry and unhappy periods and found ways to resolve them – giving them the reward of a fulfilling, intact marriage in later life.

Read the rest here.

6. I'd kind of like to go...

To the El Caminito del Rey walkway. Although with my (lack of) upper body strength, there's no way I will ever be a rock climber. I still think it would be cool to walk along some of these paths. More from the Daily Mail.

photo courtesy of the Daily Mail

7. Hahaha! This is definitely my brain!

Damn you Instant Gratification Monkey!

Also why I do not blog more regularly. I have tons of ideas in my head, but the monkey gets in the way of actual writing.

7QT

1. Need Coffee!

If I am kept up one more time by yet another thunderstorm, I am going to have to wear these to deal with all the flooding here in Eastern Oklahoma.

2. Oh no, no, no...

A newly discovered wasp named after the Dementors in Harry Potter.

Wait... it eats cockroaches? Okay, Cambodia might not be so bad.

Apparently they also discovered the longest bug, and a long fanged bat. On second thought, I think I'll just chill out in my stiletto flippers.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/soul-sucking-dementor-wasp/

3. For something different

Okay, now I think I've done enough to keep me up at night. While I'm up, I might as well have a nice, calming glass of wine, right? Right? The New York Times has some good suggestions on rose wines.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/dining/rose-wine-for-summer.html?_r=2

4. Getting cozy

While enjoying my wine, I have to have something to read. I've recently become obsessed with Kate Carlisle's cozy Bibliophile mystery series, starting with Homicide in Hardcover. A San Franciscan bookbinder and rare book expert stumbles into a murder, and into an attractive British man of mystery...

Again, these are cozy mysteries, so while there's murder and some romance, nothing is explicit.

http://www.cozy-mystery.com/kate-carlisle.html

5. Orphan Black

Speaking of obsessions, I'm also loving Orphan Black. Orphan Black is easily one of the most thoughtful and thought provoking shows on the air, as well as having one of the best actresses in the lead role. Tatiana Maslany carries the show as Sarah Manning, a grifter who uncovers a shocking truth about her past when she briefly sees a look-alike stranger moments before the stranger dies in train accident. The third season is airing now on BBC America, but you really should watch it from the beginning of the series to understand the plot line. Since the show has 10 episode mini-seasons, binge watching over a weekend isn't too bad.

(Nota bene: There are some explicit scenes in the show, so it isn't appropriate for children. I think the great parts of the show more than balance those scenes, but others may have a different opinion.)

 6. Throwback

I was also recently reminded of how music can be associated with certain times and places in my past.

For example, classic U2 songs remind me of my college days.

Shakira reminds me of panicked all-nighters during finals week, where I didn't sleep for 48 hours.

Carbon Leaf reminds me of living with my first roommate after college, and the fun socialization and deep uncertainty we experienced as single 22 year olds.

 7. Dogs, Cats, Dancers, and Beauty

The magic of Ursula K. LeGuin.

“There are a whole lot of ways to be perfect, and not one of them is attained through punishment.”

 http://www.brainpickings.org/2014/10/21/ursula-le-guin-dogs-cats-dancers-beauty/

Back from Hiatus

Well, that was an unexpected hiatus...

Life's thrown me a big curve ball, and the stress and depression resulting from the curve ball has led to my creativity drying up.

It has recently occurred to me that the best way to deal with writer's block is simply to write. Even if it isn't that great, the practice will eventually lead to being a better writer.

Happy St. Valentine's Day

Today while grocery shopping, I ran into my Bishop, and was reminded that love takes many forms. He was slightly surprised but pleased when I wished him a happy St. Valentine's Day, for the love of a priest for his Church is certainly something that should be commended. It also reminded me that romantic love, while it can be wonderful, is a penultimate love. A love for God is the ultimate one.

I also got St. Valentine's Day messages from my family. Today, whether single, in a relationship, or married, I encourage you to remember the different sorts of love in your life, not just the romance of pair bonding.

And now a cartoon via Orthogals

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Super Bowl and Other Things

Hello everyone,

I've been a bit remiss in updating the blog, but I'm back and writing this blog in between Super Bowl commercials. (Hey, I'm in flyover country... I have no dog in this game. Alabama's loss to Ohio State was enough heartbreak for this football season.)

First, my cat can be a jerk. Oh, he looks super beautiful when he poses, and has innocent blue eyes, but don't be fooled. Here's a pic of what he did with the anchovy filet he BEGGED from me.

Dragged from the plate to the carpet, then LEFT.

There's a group of people that are putting others in danger of more than stepping in anchovy, and that is the anti-vaxxer movement. The misinformation and outright lies are a serious public health issue. Rational Catholic has done a wonderful job of taking down the arguments, as well as illustrating the proper role skepticism should play in our lives. From the blog:

Catholics should be particularly receptive to the fact that even if an idea were popular, that does not make it right. Smoking tobacco was popular, even among physicians, in the past. Yet, an increasing body of scientific evidence revealed its associations with health maladies prior to the 1930s. Still, it took decades to shift popular perceptions about the risks of cigarette smoking, and, to this day, you will find smokers downplaying the seriousness of the risks. As for measles, Dr. J. Mayer notes this very point in his address to the State Society of California:

It is hard to combat the old notion that measles is something akin to a common cold with a rash…. The truth is that we, ourselves, too often encourage indifference by some such remarks as “It is only measles.”…
In conclusion, perhaps I can do no better than quote, with due acknowledgment to ‘Twentieith Century Practice of Medicine,’ some extracts from a pamphlet which, during an epidemic of measles in Glasgow, was distributed to the people by the health authorities:
‘Measles is a dangerous disease—one of the most dangerous with which a child under five years of age can be attacked….It is therefore a great mistake to look upon measles as a trifling disease.’

Mayer said this in 1904. Even at the beginning of the last century—decades prior to a vaccine— the medical community was trying to combat a nonchalant approach to measles. Those who made light of measles back in the “good old days” were wrong, even according to their contemporaries.

Read the whole article, it is well worth it.

New Years Resolutions and Patrons

Hello everyone! I hope everyone had a blessed New Year!

First, I've gotten my saints for the year. Get your patron saints here, courtesy of Jennifer Fulwiler

First is St. Damien of Molokai, a modern saint that gave his life serving the leper colony in Molokai, Hawai'i. I first read about then Fr. Damien in the book The Colony. It's quite possibly one of the first times I heard of a Catholic priest doing something good, and that the Catholic faith might have something to it, if a priest could be so selfless.

St. Damien of Molokai, pray for us

Second is Bl. Pope Paul VI
I've only known JPII and Benedict XVI, particularly the latter, but I will enjoy getting to know Bl. Pope Paul VI.

My Resolutions:
1) Be better at budgeting
2) Improve my housecleaning skills
3) Exercise/eat healthy

Okay, a bit unoriginal, but definitely needed.

Happy New Year!

Hello everyone!

I am still here, things just got a bit crazy in my real life during the holidays. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season. I will have more posts up soon. :-)