at breakfast
R: Did you read about the guy who deliberately infected himself with ringworm in order to cure his severe asthma? He claims it worked, too! [exhaustive detail followed, including a description of the man’s barefoot tour through outhouse facilities in Cameroon]

RM: [peering into my honey nut cheerios] Great topic for breakfast, hon.

R: Hey, I thought you weren’t squeamish about that stuff!

RM: [begins reading a New Yorker article that turns out to be about the truly disastrous disaster that is Iraq]

RM: [putting aside article] So, tell me more about the ringworm.

[R sees the article and starts laughing. RM follows, even though it’s not cool to laugh at one’s own jokes]

C: What’s so funny? What are you laughing at?

RM: [sighing] Oh, the world.

C: But it’s so pretty!

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at the doctor
The divine miss m had her four-month ped visit today. Four more injections—but really, her scrumptious thighs just beg to be pricked. “Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand.” Preach it, Song of Solomon 7:1!

Girlfriend grew three inches since her last visit—is now 27 1/2 inches long. She now weighs 17 pounds even. Egads! She is >95% on both of those measures (ya think?!), just as she has been since birth. The ped is pleased and untroubled, and the mom will get her body neuroses under control so as not to transmit them to her child, she will she will!

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favorite quote of the day
A mission statement for postmodern communities would read very simply: we have a screw loose, we have a death wish, and we have a sense of humor. To have a screw loose means that we are open to walking on the wild side of life, where the winds from the God of Holy Surprises blow and sing. To have a death wish means we are less into climbing ladders and clutching crowns
than we are into bearing and lifting crosses and rolling away stones. One gains life by losing it. … [And] since the devil never laughs, a sense of humor is the best weapon in the fight against evil. --Leonard Sweet, Faithquakes.

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the revgal friday five

1. Favorite birthday cake/ice cream/dessert
Chocolate cake with white icing, no contest.

Although my first birthday cake was memorable--bundt-style angel food cake and no birthday candles available, so it had a tall, thick pillar candle sticking out of the middle. Apparently my inability to have the proper birthday supplies on hand is hereditary.

2. Surprise Parties -- have you ever given or received one?
I can't remember receiving a surprise birthday party, and I really suck at keeping things I'm excited about a secret.

My most memorable birthday party was a "valley girl" slumber party at the age of 13. Purple nail polish as party favors, crank calls (which I really really suck at), tons of girls and sleeping bags strewn about.

3. Favorite birthday present
Flying to Geneva, Switzerland for three weeks in 2001 for a seminary class. It wasn't really a birthday present, but I left the next day.

4. What do you think of those candles that won't blow out?
They're easy to detect by the little sparks they give off. Eh, it's all in good fun.

Worst candle cliche: "Blow 'em out before you burn the house down!"

5. Best. birthday. ever.
My 30th was fun. We had an 80s-theme party and a magician.