Christmastime 2007
December, 2007 (Actually, January, 2008)
Pieces of 2007
There are those in this world who wonder if we are still alive, and some of them even who look forward to us writing something around the new year. It is, after all, about the only time we write anything to anyone, a few odd thank-you notes besides. And so we are able to report that we are still here, and we try to get through each day with as much grace as possible, which might surprise an observer when we have an off day, but that's our story, and we're sticking to it. We still have bumper stickers about hypocrisy, politics and absurdity on our cars (the difference is often thin, I think you will agree). We collect laughs, the odd fortune cookie revelation, time with a small number of close friends, and too many hours at the office.
We have no end of household projects. There is actually tile up on one of the walls of the upstairs bathroom, paint on the walls of our bedroom, and the light at the head of the attic stairs now works for the first time in ten years, thanks to our neighbor, Brian. This autumn, we were looking at ways to reduce our heating bill for the winter, with energy prices being what they are, and then our furnace shuffled off its mortal coil (died), leaving us standing in a 40 something degree house with sweaters, hats and gloves on. We replaced the furnace with the money we were planning on spending on fuel (and then some), so do not be surprised if you visit and still feel like keeping your coat on. We don't mind turning up the thermostat for guests, you see, but we may not remember to do so until we see you hugging a tea mug to keep your hands thawed.
Tim and Lauren are still living with us, although they are looking for an apartment and will set up a household of their own when they find a place. Erin lives on campus at Aquinas at the moment, but plans on coming back to our house in May if life's winds don't send her elsewhere. We still have room in the sun room, when the Christmas tree isn't up, so we'll see what (and who) happens.
We haven't maintained our web site very well, but if you are patient and check back now and then, you may see something new.
Rather than continue to blather on about our lives, here some other pieces from our 2007 experience. We'll let these little things speak for us. So, read on and enjoy, and continuous blessings to you all in 2008. —Larry & Roberta
We don't know the days that will change our lives. Probably just as well.
—Stephen King, "Dreamcatcher"
Nobody sensible believes in ghosts anyway – that's because they're all such liars.
—Neil Gaiman, "Coraline"
There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
—Douglas Adams
The problem with writing about religion is that you run the risk of offending sincerely religious people, and then they come after you with machetes.
—Dave Barry
Five senses; an incurably abstract intellect; a haphazardly selective memory; a set of preconceptions and assumptions so numerous that I can never examine more than a minority of them – never become even conscious of them all. How much of total reality can such an apparatus let through?
—C. S. Lewis
"God doesn't do anything to us," Angel said. "He doesn't have to. We're too busy doing it to each other."
—Charles de Lint, "The Onion Girl"
A Native American elder once described his own inner struggles in this manner:
"Inside of me there are two dogs. One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean dog fights the good dog all the time."
When asked which dog wins, he reflected for a moment and replied,
"The one I feed the most."
—George Bernard Shaw
The only tyrant I accept in this world is the "still, small voice" within me.
—Mahatma Gandhi
That noise scared the crap out of me! It was, like, somebody took a bionic tyrannosaurus rex and ran it through a meat grinder.
—Larry Barton, awoken suddenly in the night by a strange noise
Find a geek who... knows the name of the elf who wanted to be a dentist in "The Land of Misfit Toys".
—a quote from a 2007 Halloween party game
(The correct answer, by the way, is "Hermey", although some toys are labeled incorrectly as "Herbie".)
Be practical about compassion. If there is a mad dog coming for you, it is not the time to meditate on compassion. I suggest you run. Compassion then is nonsense.
—his holiness the Dalai Lama, in Chicago, May 2007
To "be" takes as much—even more—discipline, than to be caught up in surface things: to "do", to "worry". Let it all go, and what is left? The divine. The sacred. The warm embrace of God.
—Jan Lundy
Adventure is not knowing where you will lay your head at night.
—Erin Marie O'Lonergan
If today is the first day of the rest of your life, what the hell was yesterday?
—on a button worn by a passenger of the Chicago "L"
Originality consists in trying to be like everybody else—and failing.
—Raymond Radiguet
To avoid unsightly small cuts of tile at the ends of the wall, you must plan a starting point to avoid this.
—instructional brochure for tiling
» Christmas Letter 2009
» Christmas Letter 2008
» Christmas Letter 2006
» Christmas Letter 2005
Every now and then someone mentions our letter from 2000. By request, we make it available again...
» Christmas Letter 2000
With my head down and taking notes, I didn't notice... the nearly 200 people that magically appeared with only seconds to spare.
—Charles Preston Smith, writing about visiting St. Mary's Church for Mass in the satire magazine Recoil, November 2007
The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed.
—Albert Einstein
A house of worship was not a business with fixed working hours. It was an emergency room for the soul with around-the-clock access.
—Ann Arensberg, "Incubus"
Every creature is a mirror of divinity.
—Hildegard of Bingen
Dedicate your remaining years to seeing the world as a better place, rather than making it better. When you see it so, you begin to make it so.
—unknown
Nerdopotamus: n. the opposite of a hippopotamus.
—Jim Mack's "Contradictionary"
Nothing says "Christmas" like a chrome-plated skull guitar knob.
—Guitar Center advertisement
Three general justifications for zombie termination appear to be as follows: a) they are (or are very close to being) brain-dead; b) because of their radically altered life goals, what personality is left lacks the same personal identity as the original individual, releasing us from prior obligations; and c) after zombification they are usually homicidal cannibalistic killers.
—Hamish Thompson, "The Value of a Zombie", from "The Undead & Philosophy: Chicken Soup for the Soulless"
Sanity often consists of knowing what not to think about.
—K.W. Jeter, "Infernal Devices"
