7 Quick Takes Friday

1. Last week was the Erma Bombeck Writer's Conference.  I didn't attend because I'd just spent time in Miami with my husband the weekend before and that would have been too much too much. But I missed it when I heard what all my writer friends were doing. It sounded like a blast. The next one is in 2014 so maybe I'll get to go then...and be a speaker. 

Back in 2008 when I did attend, I did stand up.  I'm putting it here for those who didn't get to see it.  Warning: It is rough (first and only time doing stand up), and bawdy so my kids have not seen it, but it was fun.  And it's permanent, so my kids can laugh at me when they're adults or be mortified that it's still on the Internet.  

2.  Planning a change.  I host Small Success Thursday here on Thursdays (Natch), but it hasn't taken hold. I've asked to move the venue to Catholicmom.com where it seems, it would be a good fit.  I'll let you know if that happens and then we can all go there to post our week's triumphs over minutia.

 I can't work under these conditions...heh.  I just wanted an excuse to post this picture of my Diva Queen.

3. On a more serious note, my daughter is getting confirmed next week. 

Before my sister got confirmed, she'd written me a letter asking "What is an experience of the Holy Spirit?"  The question seemed bigger than anything a new mom at the age of 26 could muster so I asked lots of people to answer the question as best they could. The question still stands because even with all the answers (which were lovely and brilliant), there are still more answers because the Holy Spirit is infinite and speaks and breathes through all of our lives as much as we permit.  

So what generically is an experience of the Holy Spirit? It is a moment of grace, a moment when we know, we have somehow stepped out of ourselves for others and that this is a gift, a moreness than we would have given if left to our own devices. 

The how of that experience is as diverse as our lives, as our needs, as the world around us.  Being called to prayer, to serve, to listen, to ask the right question, to go be with someone, to live out the beatitudes in that moment, to be present, fully present as the Eucharist is fully present to us, that is an experience of Holiness, and that Holiness is the Holy Spirit at work in us.  Pray for my daughter as she prepares this last week before Confirmation, and for all receiving this sacrament.  It is a beautiful day for them and the beginning of adult Catholic life. 

My daughter at Easter, a gentle heart and modest spirit.

I don't have many pictures of her because she prefers to be the one behind the camera.

4.  Day 6 of South Beach.

So naturally, I'm hosting a party this weekend and will be surrounded by

and

However, I'm down 7 pounds so I am bragging here to steel myself for the weekend.

5. Momentary distraction/rant.  Memo to Hollywood: GO READ A BOOK ALREADY!

Because movies like this:

And this:

are just not going to get me to fork over 20$ to sit by my lonesome, let alone spend valuable date night time not eating popcorn, sitting through CGI created mayhem based on games that I spend countless hours picking up off the floor for fear of a child choking. 

When Hi Ho Cherrio and Checkers make it to the big screen, I'm going to just declare Hollywood dead, host a Cinematic wake using good flicks and microwave popcorn with real butter and wait for someone with a brain to start working in tinsel town.  These sort of films exist because teenagers no longer can afford to go on dates at the movies. I'm sure of it. Bring your own Junior mints.

6. Now I am a visual person. Movies stay in my head forever. So I don't watch scary films because they stay in my head.

My brother gave us a series, Firefly. It's good. We like sci-fi and as such looked forward to watching one show a night to go through the series as a home date. The other night however, the episode focused on one of the villainous races, Reavers, men who go psychotically mad in space and become self mutilating murderous savage raping cannibals. It took hours for my brain to settle down enough to allow me to rest.

Sci-fi is to me one of the most difficult genres, because many people think sci-fi is about the technology. It's not. The technology should be like the technology in my house even though it is futuristic or in space, it should be a source of almost no interest in the same way, I'm not interested in talking about my dryer as long as it's working. The story is humanity carving out meaning and purpose and identity in a universe that threatens to dwarf and diminish the soul by its immenseness. 

So Firefly so far, is wrestling or trying to wrestle with bigger questions than whether the warp conduit is needing a complete overhaul and thus, I'm intrigued. However, I'm just going to keep my Wikipedia spoiler page open before each episode to see if it is compatible with sleeping after night time viewing.

7. Pinterest and me.

This week, I tried Pinterest.  I do not yet get it, but I see other people's pages and I'm thrown back into high school mentality, when everyone else had things much more figured out than me and not only that, what they had figured out was so very cool.   So I'm going to do what I did in high school, hang out near the cool kids and easedroop until I get the hang of things...it may take 4 years.