Lent

Posted on February 26, 2009 by Gillian

Woke up this morning to a bit of a surprise: a light dusting of snow over everything. I had thought about going down to the shipyard to help out for the day but a combination of the snow and the fact that I’m working every non-school day next month made me stay home. I will be cherishing all the time I have to “do nothing” from here on in!

Not that I did nothing today. After some mundane house-related things, I went off on my walk. I’ve come to like walking a lot lately. During my months of serious thinking about my future, I did a lot of walking because it helped to clear my thoughts and was a good way to get away from distractions and pray as I enjoyed God’s creation. It was too good of a thing to give up and now I walk as often as I can. Though lately it has become more of a destination-focussed walk (Cadboro Bay, either the beach or the coffee shop, depending on the weather) than a walk-focussed walk.

As I’ve mentioned, I rarely listen to my iPod when I’m walking around anymore. As a result, I think I’ve been more involved in creation as I go. Rustling leaves beside the path give me a reason to pause and I’ve noticed some cute little wrens; a loud chirping (borderline obnoxious chatter) has introduced me to a new (for me) hummingbird. This morning, despite the snow, the signs of spring were everywhere.

I spent some on the walk, and at my mid-point coffee shop/journaling spot, time reflecting on last night’s Ash Wednesday service at church. It was quite a moving and thought-provoking service. I found it interesting (not coincidental though, because I don’t think it is coincidence when these things match up) that the Old Testament reading (Isaiah 58) directly related, at least in my mind, to the book I just finished reading, Three Cups of Tea. Related, at least, in the sense of vs. 6&7 of the OT reading:

Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—

when you see the naked, to clothe him,

and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

My challenge for Lent this year is two fold; I’m not “giving up” anything, rather I want to change how I do things.

I want to spend more time in prayer and reading/meditating on the Word, less time doing meaningless things that eat up time.

And I want to examine how I interact with my world, both my immediate circle and the greater world around me, finding ways to do the kind of fast God deems as acceptable.

New Directions (Again)

Posted on February 21, 2009 by Gillian

I’ve been doing a bit of thinking on the subject of music as of late. I hope to assimilate it all into something coherent at some point in the not too distant future but its not coming together to my satisfaction yet, so that will have to wait. Perhaps that is why I’ve been so rubbish about posting lately: avoidance.

I finished up another application to graduate school and sent it off in the post yesterday. That felt really good. For those of you not yet in the know, I’ve been rethinking my direction over the last couple months. There has been some serious thinking and praying going on over here as I determine if I am headed in a direction I would be happy with. Increasingly, nursing was feeling like a bad move: easy to get a good paying job, easy to travel all over the place with once graduated, but not sitting well inside. I tend to follow my gut like that – I’ll think everything out rationally, even make pro/con lists, and then follow my intuition. It has worked well for me thus far. It was feeling like a bad move as I was feeling trapped, a feeling I don’t like, and not entirely happy. All that and I had not even started the program yet.

So, after lots of walking and praying (I pray better outside while I’m walking all over the place) and after some serious consultation with a select few friends and family, I’ve gone back to the original original plan. The plan that was the plan before I even finished my undergrad: counseling. Really it was the plan all along, I think, I just lost sight of it in my relief to be done school. I’ve applied at a distance program which will allow me to live wherever I want and have a job at the same time. The beauty of this is that I now don’t have to leave Victoria, something I was increasingly reluctant to do. Ironic, the world traveller doesn’t want to move for the first time in ages. I guess it is time for me to spend some more time and invest in a community for longer than six months to a year.

I haven’t cancelled my application to McGill for nursing yet. I guess I want to see if I can actually get in… but it is looking less and less likely that I will follow through on that even if I get accepted. I’m excited about staying here and excited about pursuing something that feels like a much better fit.

Today

Posted on February 17, 2009 by Gillian

Beautiful day in Victoria. I finally got my long-awaited sleep-in this morning and managed to get a whole 30 minutes extra. After running around downtown and various other places, I walked down to Cadboro Bay once again. It is becoming one of my favourite places to pass time. It was wonderfully warm until the sun moved behind trees and shade began to creep across the beach. I sat on a log and drank my coffee while alternating between reading my book and watching all the people on the beach.

There were lots of dogs being run on the beach and they are always humerous to watch as they hop up and down waiting for sticks to be thrown, sniff each other up and down, and frolic in the water. Other people were taking in the sunshine just strolling down the beach or going for a run and still others were doing like myself and sitting on a log soaking in the sun.

Now that it has warmed up a bit from our periodic snow and bitter cold wind over the last few weeks, the blossoms are beginning to emerge. The snowdrops have been up for a few weeks but all of a sudden the crocuses are showing and there are a number of daffodil buds to be seen. Trees have the beginnings of blossoms and everything is lovely and green. My biggest surprise today was the pussy-willows. I’m used to small bushes like what we had in the backyard in Belleville. We would cut a few branches every year and wait for them to bud inside during Lent as our Easter tree. They have already bud here and apparently grow to the size of a full grown tree!

Speaking of Lent, next week is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season leading up to Easter. Tuesday is Shrove Tuesday (Mardi Gras) and I’m looking forward to my first church pancake supper in many years. That means it is now time to start thinking about anything that I might do in lifestyle change during the season of Lent. How about you? Any plans? Think about it and let me know. It is easier to keep commitment to these things if we support each other.

Facebook

Posted on February 15, 2009 by Gillian

One of the problems I have with Facebook is that now I find myself thinking in terms of status updates.

For example:

“Gillian has missed the window of opportunity for her afternoon walk in the sunshine”

“Gillian is beset with opportunities on all sides”

It is like Twitter, but the egotistical version.

Today I…

Posted on February 13, 2009 by Gillian

Start reading break.
Survived the week of exams and work (though there are two work days before I can sleep in).
Am tired.
Didn’t do too well on my Chemistry quiz (I just have that feeling).
Did well on my Biomedical Ethics exam (same feeling).
Got up way too early to study.
Am feeling good about life.
Plan on doing nothing for the rest of the day.
Am looking forward to Tuesday when I can finally sleep in.
Ran out of crackers and have no snacks left.
Will be thinking about talking to St Raphael tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Posted on February 3, 2009 by Gillian

That is right, today is the day. Happy birthday, Dad! I don’t know if I’m allowed to announce your age to the whole wide world, so I won’t.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll let Dad show us how he feels about reaching a the beginning of another year. (And from being only 6 years away from a GoldCard…)

I asked Jen what she remembered about birthdays past, and she reminded me of when she wrapped Dad’s 40th birthday present 40 times, using up all of the wrapping paper in the house… We have no recollection of what the gift actually was but the wrapping paper was fun.

While not a birthday memory, I have lots of winter memories with Dad (so they could be this time of year): Of being pulled on the sled while Mum and Dad cross-country skied in Belleville. When we got a little older, the four of us would ski across the Bay of Quinte and have tea with friends on the other side before being driven back. Then there were the ill-fated ice skating expeditions, also on the Bay. The first involved me dodging a snowball and ending up in Emerg. The second involved Dad going through the ice and ending up in his mukluks and lots of blankets at home. I remember downhill skiing with Dad in Quebec and him attempting to teach me techniques like standing up or turning. Dad may remember how that ended up… We got professional lessons on future ski trips.

Not all memories involve mishaps, however. There were polar bear dips at camp (a tradition I am proud to say I have kept up) and for New Years. There were lots of summer camping trips all over the place where we got to do lots of fun/unusual/crazy/educational things. There were high school classes with Dad and finally receiving my high school diploma from him. And more recently, we had a great sushi education lunch in Vancouver (spicy tuna is good!) where the three of us, Jen, Dad, and I, were able to spend time together, just the three of us, for the first time in ages.

So now another year starts, who knows when we’ll all be together again, but you are always in our thoughts and prayers, Dad. Have a great birthday!

Crazy Life

Posted on February 2, 2009 by Gillian

Welcome to February!

The next two weeks leading up to reading break have the potential to be slightly crazy. Today is my last “day off” (not including Sundays, but they don’t count since I’m up to be at church by 8:30 am) until the Tuesday of the break. I am working every day I don’t have classes between now and then plus have a couple of “extracurriculars” planned; it should keep my busy and out of trouble and all of that. Not to mention borderline insane. Why do profs like to have their exams either on the last day before the break or the first day after?

This is, I suppose, my roundabout way of apologizing for not writing anything profound in this space. Perhaps once the need for procrastination and distraction becomes more intense, I will have something more exciting to say.

Until then, I am off on a walk to the Christian bookstore to look for a book I can’t find anywhere else and to study some anatomy on the way. Victorians: the strange person walking down the road randomly moving appendages and feeling where muscles attach is me.

Random Observations

Posted on January 26, 2009 by Gillian

Some interesting happenings and observations of the last 24 hours:

But before I forget, Happy Australia Day today.

I noticed myself tucking my kleenex into the sleeve of my turtleneck last night at church. I had no pockets, okay?!? It made me think of my Grandmother. She used to do that all the time. I probably learnt it from her. I wonder if I took the kleenex out before I put my shirt in the laundry last night? I should check on that.

Some patient at work today told me I look like Charlize Theron. Nice of him, but not likely. I can’t do her whole smokey eye thing… He was an awkward 22-year old so that may have something to do with it.

The stars have been pretty darn amazing the last few nights. I just wish it wasn’t so cold so I could go sit outside in the park down the street and look. There is an insanely bright star that I see every evening in the SW area of the sky. I keep thinking it is Jupiter, but I don’t think it is (after consulting with my star program on the computer) because Jupiter isn’t visible right now. Perhaps it is Sirius or something.

I was asked to be on parish council for the second time in a week last night. The catch: the requests are for different parishes. I go to the Cathedral Sunday morning for church, and am active there in the choir and so on. I consider that my church. But Sunday night, I frequently go up the hill to St. Luke’s for Evensong. It is a nice service that is a little less formal than the Evensong at the Cathedral and I’ve met some lovely people there as well. The Cathedral asked last weekend. St. Luke’s mentioned it last night. I think they just want me because I’m young. Exploitation of youth, that is what it is…

I wore my PNG Mother Hubbard Shirt to church yesterday (over another shirt, with a big black belt to make it less pregnancy looking) and not no end of compliments on my outfit. Take that all you SALT-ies who mocked me buying one of those at the market in Madang!

I like sunshine.

How I Did

Posted on January 25, 2009 by Gillian

Here’s how I did on the tasks to accomplish this weekend:

Looking forward to list:

~~Church – Sunday morning and Evensong.~~
~~A long walk.~~
~~Some quality reading time.~~
The beginning of an illustrious banjo career.
Sleep.

Not looking forward to list:

~~Anatomy Lab/Quiz study~~
Reading chemistry.
Lots of reading of biomedical ethics.

Goal:

To accomplish all of the looking forward to things and at least one and a half of the not looking forward to things.

Evaluation:

Loaner banjo hasn’t arrived, therefore no beginnings of my career. I did look up how to play it online.
I can always use more sleep. And since I didn’t specify the amount of sleep, I can’t really justify crossing it entirely out. I did sleep at times this weekend though!
Don’t have my Chem text yet and I couldn’t be bothered to go up to the university to read the one on reserve. Quiz isn’t until Friday anyway.
Could have read a lot more of the Biomedical Ethics than I did, though I got through a chapter. Another chapter will get done on lunch break tomorrow.

Overall Verdict:

I didn’t do too badly given that I ended up having dinner with friends on Saturday (when my 3 hour walk and dropping off a birthday card on the way home turned into an extended visit and dinner) and went out for brunch after church on Sunday with half the choir. I’d say it was a successful weekend. Now all I need is a good long sleep before work tomorrow.

Day 4

Posted on January 23, 2009 by Gillian

Of my Chicken Curry. I finished it tonight, although it probably should have lasted for another day. Consequenly, I am stuffed and ready to fall asleep as I sit here. I already nearly did doze off while lying on the couch.

I’m feeling much better at the close of this week than I was at the close of last. I had a great meeting today with someone on campus which helped lots. I also worked all day yesterday which accounts for me getting nothing done in the way of readings and anatomy lab but does amount to a couple dollars for the bank account. All I need to do now is figure my life out and I’ll be set! On the plus side, I have spent much more time with my guitar as of late and though the strings need to be changed something fierce, I’m getting a whole lot more comfortable with picking.

So bring on the weekend…

What am I looking forward to this weekend?

Church for one (and two, since I often go to Evensong on Sunday as well). And choir because that is a big part of my Sunday morning. Its the reason I get up 45 min earlier to get to church 45 min earlier.
A long walk. I somehow managed to miss my walk this week. Last week I got in a 3 hour walk (including the coffee break in the middle) and a long bike ride out to see Bonice. This week: nada.
Some quality reading of the book lent to me by someone in choir.
Maybe the beginning of an illustrious banjo career if the promise of a loaner banjo comes to fruition.
Sleep.

What am I not looking forward to this weekend?

Possibly heading in to campus to work on my anatomy lab. (But working on the lab either way.)
Reading chemistry.
Lots of reading of biomedical ethics.