ING October

I needed a clever way to give y’all an update on my life as an Anachronistic Millennial.  Thus was spawned

In which I give you all the current “ings” of my life!

• Reading: A coworker lent me two fairly new books, which I have to admit is a little out of my usual style!  The first was The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes and Why, a non-fiction study of disasters and how they affect the human mind. It was an absolutely fascinating work – the author, Amanda Ripley, delved into everything from psychology to physics.  The other was a recent Pulitzer Prize novel, All the Light We Cannot See.  This was occasionally a rough read, since it takes place during the traumatic times of World War II, and sometimes gets a bit graphic.  Not my favorite style—this new fad of first-person present tense can be irritating—but on the whole, the work was a well-woven series of vignettes with a feel of realism.

• Watching: One of my coworkers had an ensemble part in a local production of Mary Poppins, so that was a fun excursion!  They did an amazing job with special effects, and it was quite fun to be at another community theater show.  A good change from Netflix binge-watching of The Great British Baking Show and Person of Interest.

• Listening: Managed to get in some live music this month!  One weekend at home, I managed to catch an amazing Carmel Symphony Orchestra concert – those musicians feel like old friends after twelve or so years of season tickets with my parents!  Also had a new experience this week, with a choral concert over at the U of M.  That was the first time I’d been to an all-choral concert, which was lovely, although some of the music was quirky. 

• Hosting: A dear friend came up to the apartment this week over her Christendom fall break.  It was so, so lovely to show her the city, take a long walk in the arboretum downtown, and stay up late talking.  She got the chance to work on her thesis, and I got a good friend to hang out with!  I’m exhausted, but emotionally so relaxed and revitalized.  Trying not to miss her and the rest of my Cdom friends too much.

• Cooking: Said friend and I spent Saturday in the kitchen, overheating, covered with flour, and thoroughly enjoying the process of baking two apple pies!  I’ve added some new recipes to my repertoire, like 7-Up biscuits, cornbread, and potato soup.  Feeding myself is still a bit of a challenge, but so far I’ve not resorted to ye olde peanut butter and jelly too often.

• Writing: Unexpectedly, a post I wrote spontaneously ended up getting passed around rather a bit.  In the process, I managed to identify a recurring style issue in my writing…which has hopefully gotten cleared up in my new writing over at CatholicMom, scheduled for Wednesday.  I’m trying to get a handle on this blog again, so pray that I also get a few posting goals achieved! 

• Praying: I picked up the Divine Office for a few weeks - fell off a bit with having a visitor here, but hoping to start fresh with Lauds tomorrow morning and get back into the routine.  I went through a few weeks of praying Lauds, Vespers and Compline in Latin, thanks to the Laudate app.  I found it's a good orderly way of structuring my day around prayer, although setting aside the time is a challenge.