Why I Don't Drink Coffee (In short: it feels like choosing leprosy)

A couple days ago I was sitting in a morning meeting and noticed everyone else had a cup of coffee in front of them, and I’m there going without, yawning and slouching and rubbing my eyes. I don’t mind starting the day a little groggy; it wears off after a little while. But sometimes I wonder if I’m making other people uncomfortable by being so counter-cultural. I mean, even vegan health nuts drink coffee.

And it’s not just caffeine: I’m also reluctant about consuming alcohol, over-the-counter painkillers, and vitamin supplements. Basically, I don’t like the idea of using mood altering substances, no matter how useful and socially acceptable they may be.

And I was just reflecting, perhaps the best way to explain it is I’m afraid of losing touch with my “true state of being.” I mean, what does caffeine do but mask the symptoms of sleep deprivation? If I’m waking up tired and can’t get going in the morning, I probably haven’t rested enough.

At a formative age I was repeatedly exposed to the idea that pain and discomfort are to be welcomed as a signal that something is wrong. You wouldn’t really want a pain-free life (the argument goes): look at people with leprosy: because their nerves have been deadened, they can’t tell when something is causing their bodies harm, so they don’t change their behavior to protect themselves from further damage and pretty soon they’ve become all crippled and deformed.

So I internalized the principle of viewing pain and discomfort as helpful information and as inspiration to alter course.

The only problem with that is … sometimes the behavioral changes necessary to bring an organic (rather than artificial) end to my suffering are just too f***ing difficult to manage. And maybe at that point I should just concede defeat and drink a cup of tea.

"Do Not Be Afraid" (Sermon)

So, I'm going to be posting (at least some of) my sermons on youtube now, through the church's new youtube channel. Here's the first one:

The Point Of This Painting Is The Paper Lanterns

I love paper lanterns. And I need some more art for the living room (art that goes with our blue and orange color scheme). So I did this painting last weekend. Yay!

On This Date Ten Years Ago

I was a new transfer student at Whitworth University (then "College"), a small Presbyterian school in Spokane, WA. Little did I know as I composed the following email to the folks back home what a momentous occasion it was. For those that know me and my beloved soul mate (see, I say that and I don't even believe in soul mates!), I thought this might be a fun read, ten years after the fact.

Also, I am posting this to reveal to Brandon the reason of the "Special Mystery Day" for which I got up at 5:45 to make him breakfast and send him off with a special lunch. Thank you, dearest Brandon, for ten incredible years, which have been so much more than at 17 I could possibly have imagined. See you after work ... (-:

From: Virgiliana
To: weekly report group
Subj: Ongoing adventures in Washington
Date: 9/20/2003

I came here to my desk to begin this email and found I could not sit in the chair, since it was covered in books and papers. "Ah!" I thought. "The room is beginning to feel like home at last!"

The other day, one of the TAs in Ethics wrote what I consider the best Dr. W--- quote so far: "I'm not being homo-erotic! I'm trying to describe the sublime!" What's even better is one of the other religion teachers, T---- M--------, happened to come in before class to tell Dr. W--- something. Right before leaving, he looked at the white board and smiled confusedly. "We'll be discussing this in our next faculty meeting." Everyone laughed as he left. Dr. W---, very red in the face, stared into space for a moment. "Hooooo," he said. "There goes my tenure."

Oh! And I forgot to mention earlier -- I tried out for the Whitworth Choir. They posted assignments Monday of last week and I was disappointed to see that my name was not on the sheet. Then I started looking for the names of a couple other people I knew who had also tried out. I looked on the sheet marked *Trouveres* (I had no idea what that was) and there was my name! As it turns out, that's the women's choir. So anyway ... that is/will be fun! (-:

This morning I ate breakfast in the cafeteria alone, since I wanted to think about a story I've been writing. When I had just about finished, a nice young man named Brandon sat down and started chatting with me. We talked about Dante, biblical inerrancy and denominational differences in interpretation of the Bible, whether the theory of evolution makes sense ... and then went our several ways.

An hour or so after I got back to my room, quad-mate J---- grilled me on the incident, asking to hear every detail of the conversation. How on earth she heard about it, I've not a clue. She said "I'm tempted to go downstairs and write on the dorm message board 'Virgie and Brandon sitting in a tree ...'" I think I'm beginning to get an idea what it's like living in a small town.

-Virgie (-:

Louisville 2013

Some photos. Enjoying my new camera on a trip to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) headquarters in Louisville, KY.

The Camera I've Always Wanted!!!!

Now that our household has two full-time incomes for the first time ever (hip hip hooray!) I finally bought myself the really nice camera I've been wanting for years. Yes, previously I'd made do with the photo function on my little HD camcorder, but it had no flash, no manual controls for setting the shutter speed and aperture and stuff like that, and most importantly, it can't take pictures of very small objects.

But take ... a look ... at ... THIS(!!!):

This was my test shot to see how the camera could do on very small objects. It captured all the beautiful tiny little wrinkles on the cashews!!! YES YES YES!!!

And here's our little 3-inch cactus (he's named Pafnuty, after the Russian Mathematician):

BEAUTIFUL PORTRAITS OF PAFNUTY!!!!

So ... expect to see more photos on this blog from now on ...

An Ode for Love of the Potato Chip

Many times I’ve eaten just a few

sometimes even two only

But today marks the first

time ever I ate just one

and felt

“That’s enough”

No; it’s not restraint

But depth, intensity

of appreciation

Think you can fathom

such a love?

Bet you can’t …