feeling bored ...

It sounds so childish, and so unfamiliar, to say--but I am bored.

Yesterday I stayed home from work, due to feeling sick--for the first time yet. I slept until about 2, then I woke up feeling a little better.

Today I felt even better and I got a lot of stuff done around the house. But then I sat down and I started feeling sick again--I may have pushed it too hard.

But I've done so much reading over the past few days, and really all week, since I've been feeling puny. So now--unbelievably--I don't have that nagging, dark cloud of a longing to read.

I don't know how I feel about this. It is very strange--I haven't felt this way in at least six months.

And I don't have the energy to write e-mails of any substance. So perhaps I will go nap. And then read.

fine work

corporate coping for the nature nut, part one

Blow-dry your hair on the way to work:

Blow-drying your hair on the way to work does not involve an ac-adapter—nature nuts repudiate such gadgets. Rather, follow these simple steps:

1. Shower before work, at home.

2. After you have dressed, keep your towel around your shoulders.

2. Apply appropriate styling products (gel, mousse, serum, etc.), as desired.

3. Pack a hairbrush in your purse or briefcase.

4. Drive to work, under the following conditions:

a. Roll down your windows.

b. Turn your car's air on the highest setting, the temperature on 'heat,' and direct the vents toward your scalp. (If you get hot, you can adjust the temperature of the air, but try to leave the fan on the highest setting.)

5. Periodically run your brush/fingers through your hair, focusing on the hair closest to the scalp, but occasionally twirling the ends.

6. After you arrive at work, remove the towel from your shoulders and do a brief styling touch-up before exiting your car.

7. Enter work with dry, fresh, clean, styled hair—and save 10 minutes of time from your morning routine!

Of course, the effectiveness of this method depends on the length of your hair and the length of your commute. Minimum commute time is 15 minutes, with ideally 2 more minutes for each inch of hair below the chin.

Link

my heart

My nerves are tight

I'm frustrated because I feel like my job is not good for my health. (Then again, sometimes I just think that I'm not good for my health :).) But in all seriousness, my job stresses me out--big time. The pace is so fast and the setting so sterile and the pressure so high and my tasks so random and varied and often vague or confusing.

Don't get me wrong--I l-o-v-e my job. Honestly, I do. Often I can hardly believe how perfectly God provided this for me, at just the right time, fitting so many of my gifts and the company's needs. I adore my co-workers and I enjoy my industry, and I see a possible future for myself in it.

But what would I pay to have a desk by a window--a window I could look out and see the sky and the earth and trees, animals, and the weather! I would open it and breathe real air and get real Vitamin D during the day. I think this would be a vast improvement over my current situation, which is comprised of drywall, flourescent lighting, and oppressively cold AC.

How to "(do) missions when dying is gain"

"To wake up in the morning and be aware of the firmness of the mattress, the warmth of the sun's rays, the sound of the clock ticking, the sheer being of things ... (Lewis) helped me become alive to life. He helped me see what is there in the world--things that, if we didn't have, we would pay a million dollars to have, but having them, ignore."

-John Piper (Don't Waste Your Life, pp. 19-20)

No "hill of beans"

Tonight I watched my favorite film with some great friends. Afterwards they asked me, "So Angela, our little film critic, what did you think of it?" ...I was absolutely speechless.