[Typed at 11:20 a.m. / 8:28 p.m.]

A good-morning text from my sweetie.

Dressing up for this morning's church service and this afternoon's prospective student interview (it's not required for either, but I like to do so). The outfit included a maroon top I'd purchased in Amsterdam seven years ago, a velvet shawl Julie and Jason had given me a year or two before that trip, and some elegant earrings (thin, straight gold wire with brown cubes) the BYM gave me last year.

It's a bitterly cold morning, but I am in a corner of P.F. Chang's with a pot of Dragon's Eye Ooolong tea, and awaiting a plate of chicken, eggplant, and rice. (This is actually because I'm a dork and left my office badge at home, but the stuff I needed to do there can wait a day, and that's a happy thing as well.) ... and, golly, that was quick. Ten minutes between order and entree. And the waitress is paying just the right amount of attention so far -- not too much, but checking in to see if I need water (which, with the spicy eggplant, yes).

It being this cold means I can stash my leftovers in the car during the interview. That's supper and/or breakfast taken care of.

Led hymns this morning. Didn't disgrace myself. (Best that can be hoped for with still-congested lungs -- and, as I observed to the music minister afterwards, not tunes I could transpose down an octave.)

Sara Dickman performed some flute and piccolo pieces during the service. The human breath is capable of wondrous things.

The restaurant sound system is currently playing "American Pie." Man, that really is an incredible song.

The service was themed around the I Ching, and was both good and challenging. Alan Leiserson introduced and read a selection from the I Ching on "Opposition" that offered an observation on how water and fire remain independent elements even when they are combined. Reverend Gail's sermon (which will show up on the FUUN sermon blog some days from now) included some memories about how she consulted the I Ching during the first decade of her marriage, which included her transition from a "churchphobic" young mother and artist to a Harvard Divinity School student and later a UU minister. (I scribbled down some notes I might post about later -- no time tonight.)

Conversations after church included discussions about church business, the $10 in 2010 campaign (for raising the minimum wage), working out with a Wii, dancing, preaching messages congregations don't want to hear, and how liberal churches could better minister to families (Richard Ruach, a retired minister who is a regular attendee at the early service, will be speaking at FUUN on this subject this Tuesday at 1:30 p.m. He's a sweet man and a fun speaker).

A vampire/cyborg manga I'd been thinking of reading apparently features "a mysterious branch of the Unitarian Church" in its narrative. This may not be a good thing, but at the moment, it tickles me, and who knows, maybe it could become a sermon or essay topic someday.

The husband of our church administrator sometimes shows up in kilts. He wears them well.

The nice lady who let me escape the parking garage (UT-Vanderbilt game traffic, argh).

Bitterly cold days = all the more pleasure burrowing under flannel sheets for a long nap.

Saz and Erac stopped by with meatloaf, olives, and other goodies. Yum to the food and yay for getting to see them.

ink in a Dixie cup:
the thirsty paper
spreads the tendrils of letters