ginormous update

Lots of things to talk about, since it's been so long. (Sorry about that!) Pick and choose your favorites.

Shame

First, I have to say that I'm feeling rather ashamed of myself right now, for my lack of robust faith. Ironically, all the stuff we talked about at church (which had a lot to do with this) did not move me nearly as strongly as a pair of articles by Doug Giles, called "Robust Faith". They're part of a series that he's not finished with yet, but the two he's done already really moved me to consider how limpid I've allowed my faith to become, and how desperately I need to learn to make my faith a strong, visible part of my everyday life, even in those situations where I may feel most uncomfortable doing so. If you're interested, the articles are here and here.

Psych study

I've been helping out with this psychology study on campus. They're testing the effects of different sugars on the cognitive processes. So, we fast for 12 hours before-hand; they take a blood sample, and then give us this nasty sugary drink and wait 15 minutes; they take another blood sample, and then we do some cognitive thinking tests on the computer, etc. Well, I've been noticing that this tends to give me a bit of a headache, only natural after a sugar high like that. But yesterday was especially bad. It may have been helped along by the fact that when I got home, I spent essentially the rest of the day reading an online text of a book. In any case, I had a nasty headache all day long, and all I had to relieve it was my peppermint oil. It did help, but never lasted long. I guess it's time to buy some ibuprofen.

Weather

The temperature out here has been much nicer lately -- I rarely need more than a sweater to keep me warm when I go out. It's even been more sunny, and that's wonderful! Today it happens to be really overcast, but yesterday was beautiful for most of the day (it started to rain in the evening). It's making me very happy. Oh, and I finally went and got myself new flip-flops yesterday at ASDA.

Reading

Recently, I've been reading some Georgette Heyer. The first (These Old Shades) was one that my friend Katie brought with her when she visited, and left it with me. It was all right, and I was annoyed with it even as I was engrossed in it. It was a very strange experience. Anyway, after that one, JoAnna lent me hers (Bath Tangle) to read, and I liked it much better. It was written later in Heyer's life, and it was set in a later period, and the main characters were more grown-up. I think that all contributed to me liking it better.

Anyway, I can't find Heyer at the library or online, so then I had to start reading some other stuff. Having read Heyer lately, I'm now in the mood for romances, and so I started with some Jane Austen. I finally read Persuasion, which was quite short, comparatively. It was very good, but there's nothing much more that I would want to say about it at the moment. Except maybe that it made me want to go to Lyme Regis and Bath.

After Persuasion, I then was really in the mood for some Scarlet Pimpernel. It has been a long time since I read it, and it was great, as always. I found a website entirely devoted to the Scarlet Pimpernel, www.blakeneymanor.com. Actually, I had found it long before, but this time I found that they have e-texts of all the Scarlet Pimpernel books, and even some others that Orczy wrote. I may have to read a few more of them right away.

Easter

Spring is here, and Easter is this weekend. I can hardly believe it! I don't have any plans as yet. JoAnna was going to try and convince a family in the ward that they should invite me over for dinner that day, but I haven't heard anything about it. I need to talk to the husband anyway, so I'll probably try and call him today.

Easter always makes me think of my mission and my trainer Sister Gordon, since that's about the time that I first arrived in the field. It was a very good time of the mission for me, and I can't help but think of it whenever Easter comes around. That's probably a good thing, since it also serves to remind me both why I went on a mission and why we celebrate Easter, namely, for our Savior. I plan to do some good Easter reading, about the Resurrection. Interestingly, my favorite teaching about the Resurrection is from before it had taken place. It is when the Lord is about to raise Lazarus from the dead, and he explains to Martha that, "I am the Resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die" (John 11:25-26). I suppose I love this so much because it makes me remember that Jesus Christ is the Master of my soul -- that without Him, there is no resurrection, and there is no life.

Today's quote

The old man shrugged. He had seen so much misery, so much sorrow and pain, it was difficult to be compassionate to all. There had never been but One in this world who had compassion for the whole of humanity, and humanity repaid Him by nailing Him to a cross. (50 points - one of my favorite quotes ever, from a little-known and little-read book)