Happy Birthday, Mama!

Thens and nows:

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Thee Shall Enjoy This Post

As previously mentioned, I went out to New York to visit some friends, the H's, last week, and I had a great time. As also mentioned, one of the parts that was the most fun was playing Quaker with Klara, Becca, Ruth, and my siblings. We never really called anyone out, even though everyone lost, especially Cara and Ruth.

For those of you who have never played Quaker or are otherwise unfamiliar with the game's precepts and ordinances, the main object of the game is to keep from smiling. Laughing is even more frowned upon. Everyone sits in a circle. When Person A's turn comes, he says to Person B on his left, "This is a very solemn occasion, Brother (or Sister) [middle name of Person B]." To this Person B replies, "Yes it is, Brother (or Sister) [middle name of Person A]."

It's often a hilarious game, but I have never participated in one more amusing, comical, convivial, entertaining, exhilarated, frolicsome, gleeful, happy, humorous, jocular, jolly, jovial, joyful, joyous, laughable, lively, merry, mirthful, priceless, rollicking, side-splitting, or uproarious than the Great Quaker Game of June 15, 2006.

(Thanks to Thesaurus.com for the list of adjectives.)

Here is the first mistake.

The second time around, Cara (who, to be fair, was rather tired) couldn't keep from laughing, so she turned into a sort of sobbing fit. Klara quietly (too quietly, unfortunately) chided her for being so noisy a Quaker, and poor Ruth didn't stand a chance of keeping a straight face. She can't usually anyway.

Here is a rough transcript of what was said after Cara's affected lamentations:

Klara: Indeed it is, Sister Beth, I weep for you as well. This
is a very solemn occasion, Sister Alison, do you not agree? Our Sister Beth must be thrown out of the community.

Cara: I was crying; I wasn't laughing.

Klara: Oh, I see through thee, that thee laugheth. I see a
cheerful heart, I see a jovial heart, and that is a sin.

Ruth: hee hee hee etc.

After we had played Quaker for a while, we decided to play a different version, one that I believe the H's had made up themselves (correct me if I'm wrong). In this new version of Quaker, each Person A tells his Person B of some physical flaw that B has and compares it to something. Person B refutes this heartily, but without smiling. I wasn't in the room when the new rules were explained, and it took me a minute to figure them out, as you can see from this clip. I made another similar mistake, in the next clip, but that time Cara stole the show. She could barely manage to say....but you'll have to listen to find out WHAT she could barely say. Ruth finished off the clip with a terrific quote of her own. Listen here for the audio clip that everyone's talking about.

In Which I Find Myself Busy as a Bee

I have never been so busy in my LIFE as I expect to be over the next couple weeks, and especially the next day and a half. This is always the busiest time of year for me, but this year takes the cake and eats it too. (Mixed metaphor intended.) The sources of this nearly incredible surge in activity are numerous. However the largest source BY FAR is my VBS overhead for Chestnut Hill. Allow me to elucidate. Our church is having a one-week camp (Vacation Bible School) for kids aged 4-12, or something like that, and I am the official creator of the Powerpoint presentation containing the lyrics to the songs that said children are to sing. One problem: I based all my work on the presentation I built for VBS two years ago, and just recently - about two hours ago, in fact - I found out that the one from last year had far more songs, and they were in a different order (this matters for reasons to hard to explain at 11:32pm). AND I CAN'T FIND THE FILE FROM LAST YEAR!!!

Here's how I felt when I found out I couldn't find the file:



So I have my work cut out for me, especially considering I only have tomorrow to work on it, and I have to work tomorrow and go to church and go to a VBS planning meeting. I'm swamped!

Once tomorrow is over and VBS has come and gone, I will have one day to recuperate. Then it's off to Fairwood for a "Young Men's Week." That will keep me busy until Wednesday or Thursday; then I shall head off to Block Island for a celebration of my mother's 50th birthday party. Then there's Fairwood's Family Convention and then there's leftover Chemistry and Math and Reports. Ugh.

In other news, my long-lost wallet has been found! I know most of you probably never knew I lost it, but I had, and it was most distressing. It turned up on Daddy's boat the third time we looked. I am so relieved and thankful! It was very much an answer to prayer It's especially nice to have something so relieving happen when I am in the midst of feeling excessively overwhelmed.

Follow-up from previous post:

I have decided to defy the public slightly by not reading an Agatha Christie. Vacation is over now, and I have read probably twenty Agatha Christies before anyway. I am only slightly defying the public, however, because I read the second most voted for book: Miss Buncle's Book. I enjoyed it quite thoroughly and highly recommend it. The only annoying thing about it is that I had to get it from the Milford library since the local library didn't have it. The annoying thing about THAT is that the Milford library is not clearly marked. In fact, I went into the wrong building the first time. A sign right over the door said "Library," but apparently it was mistaken: it was the Milford Planning Center. Some guy who mistook me for his buddy redirected me to the real library, across the street. I went in and, after several wrong turns, found my way to the Adult Fiction Section and made off with my prize. Cara, Ryan, and I were on our way to New York to visit some friends, and Cara read the book aloud on the way there and back (a ten hour trip, and she read for about six hours total). I finished the rest last night.

We had a great time in NY, especially playing Quaker with Klara, Becca, and Ruth. I got some great video and audio clips with my digital camera, but alas, they are on a different laptop and it is too late to transfer them. I may post some of them this week. Then again, I may not.

Back to another subject: I think I will continue to go with the public's opinions for my next couple books as well. I plan to read LOTR, Animal Farm, and The Prince and the Pauper in that order. I am notorious when it comes to following through with reading lists, however, so we shall have to wait and see what happens.

By the way, when I went to get my camera to take my "how I felt" pictures, this little guy was sitting right on the doorstep. Isn't he adorable? I think I shall name him Thaddeus for no particular reason whatsoever.

Mandatory Poll

I finished Uncle Tom's Cabin this week, and I liked it somewhat. My two complaints were (a) that it had too many stereotypes (e.g. extremely polite Kentuckians, stiff and grim New Englanders, and honest, kind, loving, good-natured, sensitive, passionate African-Americans) and (b) that too many bad things happened to poor Uncle Tom.

Now that I'm done with that book, I am looking for some other book to fill up my free vacation time. I'm not sure how much time I'll have now that the Holschers are here(!!!!!), but I'd still like to get something else to fill up any free time I do have.

Here's were you come in. As payment for the wonderful services my blog has to offer, you MUST participate in the poll below. It's quite simple. Just pick a book you think I should read and click "VOTE"!!! You can do it!!!

What book should I read next?
	An Agatha Christie novel
	Animal Farm
	Sense and Sensibility
	The Lord of the Rings
	Miss Buncle's Book
	Around the World In Eighty Days
	The Prince and the Pauper
	Other
Pollhost.com

Note: If you can't vote because someone else already did using the same computer, just wait until the next day or later and it should work.