Thirteen on Thursday the 12th

1. You know what that means about tomorrow, right? Friday the Thirteenth actually has romantic significance in our house, so we're fine with it.

2. Of my wardrobe, probably 1/4 came from church yard sales, 1/4 from my sister (and some from mom), 1/4 from thrift stores in various states, and 1/4 bought new off extreme sale racks. Plus shoes. I've only ever bought "used" shoes once, and they really didn't seem used. $120 Ecco Mary Janes for less than $3. I have a pretty strong thrifty streak.

3. I think that secrets are bad for society. It amuses me how many basically under the radar sub-cultures exist in our world, simply because some people are threatened by other people being different than them. If we could all just agree not to judge, we wouldn't need so many secrets.

4. My heart is aching from all the shooting sprees this week. Our world is broken. I'm glad I believe in the cross.

5. Probably fewer than half a dozen items of furniture etc. in my house were bought outright. The rest were inherited from various people, living and dead. I appreciate this because furniture stores bug me rather a lot.

6. I am continually amazed that people are brave enough to have children. Babies seem to be busting out all over. My friend just this week. My sister and my niece-in-law in July. Two young women from church in October. Who are these people, and how did they get so bold? I don't know if it's the physical realities of giving birth or the insane challenges of raising children that scare me most. Wow. I'm glad someone's doing it, because I'm sure as heck not going to.

7. Strange piles of unknown bugs showed up in a weird place twice now at church. I'm really hoping they're not termites.

8. Plus, I think a cat or something got into the church this week. There was a -- how to say? -- TURD in the "library" and the food pantry basket had been raided by something that seemed to have claws. Not cool. Now we have to wonder if there's a hole somewhere or if the door was open too long while they were repairing the steeple this week.

9. I have a new joke going with my husband where I have decided to become a person who is known for absurd and salty metaphors. What's weird is that I have this sense that people only appreciate colorful phrasings if they were handed down from a great-uncle or someone like that. If you make them up yourself, I feel like people will think you're a fraud. What's up with that? I suppose the absurdist nature of mine also changes things. But it's easier to make things up if they don't have to make sense!

10. In a couple weeks, I am going to have to make an entertainment decision between an opera about dying nuns and the Vagina Monologues. Well, actually I might not have to choose between them, but that would mean attending both in the same weekend, which seems a little crazy.

11. I miss all the friends I have who live so very far away. I wish we all had jet-packs and could go see each other more often.

12. Speaking of jet-packs, I had one once -- in a roommate's dream! I would love to be able to fly, and I've never even had a flying dream of my own that I remember. This is one of the great injustices of my psychic life.

13. I've been living in a nice space lately, where Lent finally got figured out and it's too soon to be worrying much about Easter. And as it turned out, Lent appears to be amazingly low maintenance. It's quite lovely really.