The How Will You Die Quiz

How will I die? Your Result: You will die while having sex.   Your last moments in this life will be enjoyable indeed...hopefully. Do not fear sex. Try not to become celibate as a way of escaping death. You cannot run from destiny.
You will die from a terminal illness.
You will die in a car accident.
You will die in your sleep.
You will die while saving someone's life.
You will die of boredom.
You will be murdered.
You will die in a nuclear holocaust.
How will I die? Create a Quiz

Hmmmm. Well, the french do refer to orgasm as L'petit Morte, yes ...?

Hallow'een Friday 6

The lovely Singing Owl posts:
"All Hallows Eve (Halloween) is near. As a child, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays. We didn’t yet worry about razor blades in apples or popcorn balls or some of the other concerns people have with Halloween these days. Halloween was a chance to be mildly scared, and better yet, to dress up and pretend to be something we really weren’t. Let’s talk about that a bit, but then let’s add in some food ideas for this year. Where I live the leaves are falling, the temperature is chilly and pumpkins are for sale everywhere, along with many kids of apples. What's more, the "Holiday Season" will soon be upon us. ACK! I could use a new idea for dessert. So, here we go…"

1. How did you celebrate this time of year when you were a child? My mom and the two oldest sibs would help me and my youngest brother choose or create a costume, and take us out to roam great distances throughout the neighborhood. The parents would then sort through the bag and throw out the things about which they were nervous, and then dole out what we collected appropriately.

2. Do you and/or your family “celebrate” Halloween? Why or why not? And if you do, has it changed from what you used to do? DH and I usually purchase candy, and welcome trick or treaters. We often go to costume parties if there is one available, which DH really gets into. The last one we went to at her nephew's, we went as Spartans [as in MSU Spartans] complete with facial hair and appropriate armor. The most elaborate costume DH ever created consisted of numerous pull tabs [remember those?] from beer and soda cans, collected for nearly a year, and joined together to create chain mail for "Sir Laughs-a-lot".

2. Candy apples: Do you prefer red cinnamon or caramel covered? Or something else? 5+ plus years of braces in my youth kind of turned me off from caramel apples and chewing gum. But apple slices dipped in peanut butter rock.

3. Pumpkins: Do you make Jack O’ Lanterns? Any ideas of what else to do with them? Not usually ... although it has been such a good year for pumpkins and they are so pretty that I might just carve one this year. And roast the seeds.

4. Do you decorate your home for fall or Halloween? If so, what do you do? Bonus points for pictures. We have lots of maple and oak trees in our yard, so we leave the autumn decor up to Mother Nature.

5. Do you like pretending to be something different? Does a costume bring our an alternate personality? Yes and yes ...

Bonus: Share your favorite recipe for an autumn food, particularly apple or pumpkin ones. I'm feeling bone dry in the recipe department ... because my creative energies are being directed elsewhere. See previous post!

RDQ Reappears After Mysterious 3 Week Absence

Life has been very, very interesting lately. Let me just catch you up:

*This past Wednesday, I have resigned one of my two pulpits, the church in Flint. My last Sunday in worship with this congregation will be November 25th. I tendered my resignation at the meeting of our board of directors, who received it with appropriate sadness, but also appropriate support. So, for the next 30 days, I and hopefully these congregants will be praying and saying our "goodbyes", tying up some loose ends, preparing for the annual congregational meeting, and preparing to say "hello" to an interim pastor as well as new ideas, new vision and new energy for ministry. Dear readers, all 4 or 5 of you, I solicit your prayers for me and this congregation, as well as the denominational leaders who will be assisting us through the transition.

*Yesterday, I found out that what appeared to be an exciting new interim job opportunity doing peace and justice ministry may not be open to me in quite the way I and a few other folk thought it would be. Pray for patience, "clearness" and wisdom for me and some others who are impacted by multiple transitions and the unexpected, and trying to figure out what is possible, reasonable and just, fair, ethical ... and best.

*I finished my 2006 income taxes, 8 days after the extension deadline. Oh well! I had planned several dates with Uncle Sam at the US Treasury, but you know ... he's just sooooo high-maintenance. I really wish the tax deadline didn't usually fall so close to Easter --at least in 2008 it doesn't, hallelujah. OTOH, there will be only a month to breathe between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday. But an extra month to breathe after Easter.

*I took part in an exciting retreat this past weekend which I blogged about here. I learned some new concepts, such as "cultural appropriation", and experienced the diversity of the LGBTetc. "community of communities" more directly and personally than I usually have opportunity. So, gathered together in one room there were ... black/African American/American of African descent SGL Lesbian Christians and clergy, white Christian clergy, straight people, pagan/earth-based/shamanic practitioners, transpeople, intersexed, disabled, atheist, multi-faith, buddhist, Unitarian Universalist, highly educated and non-literate, Quaker .... and I know with certainty I am leaving someone out. We're already planning a similar event in May and October of next year.
*I attended one night of the week-long Reel Pride Film Festival, an annual event sponsored by the Triangle Foundation which shows all kinds of movies which would be of interest to members of the TBGL community. A short film called "Pariah" really spoke to me, particularly one of the featured songs which had this refrain: "someday I will be able to bring all of whom I am".

[Dear God, how I am longing for a place, a space, a time to bring all of me ... Dear God, the church isn't always a place where I can do that. What are we to do about that?]

Thankfulness Friday Five

Mary Beth of Terrapin Station posts a very simple F5 this week: Name five things [people, places, miracles] for which you are thankful.

This is one of those weeks for me in which the practice of gratitude is a discipline, not an emotion readily expressed, so this is a timely exercise. Here goes ...

1. I am thankful for a loving partner that will sleep with me even when I have eaten more than a usual amount of GARLIC. ["Are you afraid of vampires or something?" DH asked me this morning. "I know it's healthy for you to eat it, but doesn't it work better in small doses ...? I'm not complaining or anything."]

You mean garlic isn't an aphrodisiac? Who knew?

2. I am thankful for techy things like skype, facebook and blogrings, which allow me to be in touch with a supportive, loving community made up of folks that send me everything from virtual flowers to virtual Porsches [a particularly memorable gift from Rainbow Pastor.]
I am especially thankful for these things when I am mightily tempted to chuck the PC out the nearest window or take a sledge hammer to it, as has happened often this past week.

3. I am thankful for what folks in the recovery community sometimes call an AFGO [she says aloud as she types through her gritted teeth]: Another Fireplacin' Growth Opportunity.

4. I am thankful for my two-week vacation which starts next Wednesday.

5. I am most especially thankful that God sees an order in chaos that I cannot, and I will trust that She Knows What She Is Doing. I will trust that when the time is right, She Will Let Me In On The Secret Just A Little Bit.