Japan: In Memoriam

This is a photo of Taylor Anderson. She was found almost a week ago, one of the first United States citizens to be identified as a victim of the disaster in Japan.

I knew Taylor. Not well, but I knew her. We went to college together. She graduated the same year as me. I could have picked her out of a crowd and said, "Yeah, that's Taylor Anderson."

From the few conversations I had with her, she seemed like a real sweet girl.

As much as I cannot say that Taylor and I were close, I can say that some of the girls I am close with were close with her. Taylor was in the same sorority as many of my college friends, including my dear friend Virginia.

She shared cherished memories with the same people I share cherished memories.

She was a loved one of my loved ones.

CNN interviewed Virginia and some of my other friends about Taylor. Here is the article. The accompanying video is embedded below.



Here is an article from Randolph-Macon, the college Taylor and I went to.

I urge you to pray for her family during this difficult time. If you're not the praying kind, send your most loving thoughts out into the universe - God will hear those prayers, too.

Chicken Massacre

One of the awesome blessings with my current job is that on many Fridays, I get to work from home. I still typically get up around the same time as I do other weekday mornings but instead of getting dressed and leaving at 8:15, I simply lounge in my pjs and watch The Today Show for a little bit, then get down to work whilst sitting on my couch (still in my pjs, natch).

Today began the same as any other work-from-home Friday. Since it was nice out, I left the back door open so the dogs could go in and out of the house as they wished (for a little bit of a reference point, my roommate has two 90-pound dogs. They often can't make up their minds about whether they want to be indoors or out, so leaving the door open and giving them the option is the optimal way to handle their needs). It was a peaceful morning. I worked on a blog for the Mission: St. Louis website and drank coffee. I could hear the traffic go by on Grand, the faint train whistle, and the subtle squawk of the chickens next door.

Yes, the chickens next door.

Bruno

As I sat there quietly typing away, I came to the realization that over a period of several minutes, the normal chicken noises had changed into not-normal chicken noises. Now I know that Bruno, our big black dog, has a history of killing livestock. I rushed to the open back door and saw that, sure enough, Bruno was in the middle of the backyard with his face shoved into a mass of chicken carcass, feathers going everywhere. I made a loud exclamation of "OH MY GOSH" or "EWW GROSS" or "AUGHGHGH" or something like that and slammed the door shut so that no dog could drag any chicken bits into the house.

Cooper

A short while later I was upstairs when through the window I saw another chicken hanging out in our yard. There is a four-foot fence between our yard and the neighbor's, so I am not sure how these chickens got over the fence. This is the first time while I've been living here that Bruno has killed chickens, so while I'm sure that the chickens can fly over the fence if they want to, they don't often do that. I wonder what got into them today that they wanted to go traveling. So I saw this chicken and I thought, "Dude, chicken, you're gonna die." I didn't see the little guy get killed, but I am certain that Bruno took him out.

A few hours went by. I got around to taking a shower and finally felt like I could stomach some lunch (seeing chickens being killed doesn't really arouse my appetite). At about 2pm, I saw ANOTHER chicken that had gotten into our yard. Bruno was already in sight, stalking the crap outta that chicken. But this time I couldn't look away. I just couldn't. I had to watch as Bruno chomped down on the chicken. I could not stop watching as he casually pushed the chicken's body down with a large paw and broke the chicken's neck with his massive jaws. I managed to wrench my eyes away only when I saw the flesh start tearing.

*shudder* UGH. I am traumatized. I do not live on a farm. I live in a city. Unless I am going on a field trip to a farm or am watching Animal Planet, I am never mentally prepared to experience animals eating other animals, especially dogs that I live with eating live chickens! BLECH!

However, I will say that dogs do a good job of cleaning up after they eat. All that is left are three piles of feathers. No blood, no bones, just feathers. And two very full dogs.

This is the amount of feathers that come from one chicken.

My next blog: I'm contemplating going vegetarian again.

Fat Tuesday and the 40 Days After

ATTN: I have tremendous appreciation for Catholic traditions but I am not myself a Catholic. My Fat Tuesday/Lent observations follow no strict doctrine/rules/laws but since I have seen these specific ideas manifest as beneficial in my life, I usually choose to observe.

St. Louis has the second-largest Mardi Gras celebration in the United States, beaten only by New Orleans. In STL, this past Saturday was Mardi Gras Day. The neighborhood of Soulard was overtaken by all kinds of hullabaloo, none of which I experienced firsthand since I was hiding in my house in South City, away from the crowds of revelers.

Yesterday was Fat Tuesday (and the traditional Mardi Gras day), which I did choose to celebrate with some of the other STL VISTAS. I love to bake although my experience is limited - this was my first foray into using yeast/making dough. I decided to make the King Cake for the party. It took me about five hours on Monday night to complete the monster of a pastry, but in the end it was totally worth it.

Deliciousness ensued.

In my life, Fat Tuesday represents a day of indulgence before lent begins. It also represents a time period of making the decision to do something about things that I know get in the way of my relationship with God.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about "not wanting to miss it." Well, I have not turned off the TV. I know I need to because it's getting in the way of so many other, more important things. So for Lent 2011, I have given up TV reruns. Brand new episodes are still okay (so the Thursday night lineup is protected). Believe me - new episodes take up very little of my average TV watching for one week). I typically watch two hours of Bones a day. That lasts from 6-8pm. And then, since I'm already watching TV, I just sit around and watch whatever jenk is on from 8-9. Then I usually go to bed.

My whole evening? Wasted.

My relationship with God? On the back burner.

I came to St. Louis to give it all to God. I need to start acting more like it and doing more about it. Filling my evenings with so much mindlessness (esp TV shows that cause me to dream about murder) is doing nothing for my spiritual life except making it stagnate like standing water. So bye bye, Booth and Brennan. This is me moving forward towards my goal.

"real job"

It's my second week at my first-ever "real job" (although it's not technically a job - I am, in fact, a full-time volunteer). It's my first time working "real job" hours, anyway. The Monday-Friday, 8:30-4:30 grind. I realize I haven't had these hours very long and it might be a little early to say whether I love or hate my schedule, but as someone coming from school/restaurants, I'm not sure I can get down with it. I have no problem working 40 hours a week (if you know me personally, then you are most likely aware that I tend to over-commit myself on a regular basis). It's the transition to a repetitive, conformist schedule that is taking some getting used to.

This past Saturday, I took one heck of a Sabbath.

Sleeping until almost 11am, lounging in my pjs for several hours after that, I entertained the dogs and did almost nothing. I made some cookies, washed my sheets, and played catch-up with my read-the-Bible-in-a-year assignments - that was about it. I don't know what I even bothered changing clothes; I was only up for ~12 hours.

Sunday was better. I read a bunch of Eat, Pray, Love and then had an excellent Skype conversation with Friend Katie. I attended a training so I can start volunteering at one of the local elementary schools and help teach kids how to read. Church was good, as per usual. Thought-provoking. Sort of depressing (still in Ecclesiastes) but gave me a lot to think about.

So now I'm back at work. Day 12 of 365. Sitting in my chilly office. Staring at my to-do list. Listening to the Pandora chill/downtempo station through my headphones. Attempting to get myself acclimated to sitting down eight hours a day, five days a week. Wrapping my head around doing this for at least 51 more weeks. Trying to focus on the tasks as hand but instead pondering what the heck to do about next year.

Any and all suggestions are welcome.

my sentiments exactly

Shared from Dani's awesome photo blog. She shared it from someone too.