The Nice Chameleon

I might possibly be blogging at A Sort of Notebook again. At least for the time being. It's a very old blog, and the link doesn't seem to be working, so I'll give you the URL to cut and paste, if you're so inclined: asortofnotebook.blogspot.com

 How is it already time to begin thinking about my book challenge for 2023? I thoroughly enjoyed my 2022 book challenge. It had many, many categories, more than I knew I could read, and yet … and yet, I read more books in 2022 than I’d read in a single year since I don’t know when. While I didn’t manage to read something in every category, I did cover most of them, plus I read a number of other books that didn’t fit into the challenge. For this year, I’m going to branch out and read books in a genre with which I have little familiarity: the double genre of science fiction and fantasy. I’ve read a few of the classics – The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings books, (obviously), the Harry Potter books (also obviously), A Wizard of Earth Sea , a bit of Asimov, and such. But I’ve never been much drawn to science fiction or fantasy. Have I been missing something? Let’s find out. Here are the categories for my 2023 Reading Challenge: A classic from the 19 th century A classic from the 20 ...

About a year ago, I was getting increasingly frustrated and concerned by my failing memory. I was constantly losing my keys, my phone, water bottle, etc. And when I'd go to look for something, I'd forget what I was looking for! Or I'd walk into a room and not remember why I'd walked in there. Several years before, I'd taken voice lessons and, struggle as I might, I could not memorize the songs I was learning. I would hit the same wall with pieces I was learning on piano. And with people, I'd forget names. With books, I'd get to the end and not remember what I'd read. Old age, I guess. But I wasn't happy because I'd once had an excellent memory. An uncannily excellent memory. My brain was a bank of phone numbers, birthdays, names, faces, directions, and more. When I was 14 and we were starting "A Tale of Two Cities" in English I, Mrs. Edwards told us never to forget that Gaspard was the name of the tall joker who wrote "Blood" ...

For my 2022 reading challenge, I've developed seven main categories, each with five subcategories, for a total of 35 possible books. Considering that I read only about 30 books a year, I do not expect to read a different book for each category. Instead, my goal will be to read about three from each category, for a total of about 20 books. I'm allowed to double-dip, where one book can fulfill more than one category, so it's very possible that I'll meet most if not all of my "requirements." Why do a book challenge? Why not just read things? Well, I do that a lot, and I imagine I will read several books that don't fit the categories listed here (or that are repeats). But for me, having a list like this is a kind of discipline, and a way in which I can ensure that I try out books, authors, and genres that I might not otherwise try. Today I'm going to begin by listing the categories and subcategories. Over the next few weeks and months, I'll fill in som...

  I'm in. I'm going to try the " Back to the Classics Challenge " for 2021. This will be the first time in a while that I've done a "prescribed" challenge, and I'm looking forward to diving in and reading some books I've always wanted to read. Only one of these (that I know of)   of these will be a re-read. Here are the categories, with my possible selections. I believe these are all classics; if I discover that something isn't a "true classic" (whatever that means), I will change it to something more ... classic. UPDATE:  I am going to mark the month completed for the books below as I finish them. Book reviews will be forthcoming ... I hope ...) A 19th century classic: any book first published from 1800 to 1899 -  A Tale of Two Cities , by Charles Dickens (1859) (COMPLETED in April) A 20th century classic: any book first published from 1900 to 1971 - Till We Have Faces , by C.S. Lewis (1956) (COMPLETED in August) A classic by a w...

I really shouldn't. I shouldn't do this. Every year, I start with such grand dreams of reading all my listed books, and every year, I end up reading a bunch of other books instead. Not that that's a bad thing; I just feel silly each year as I re-read the list and realize I've barely read anything I'd planned to read. When I looked at the beginning of my list from last year , I was pleasantly surprised. At some point last year, I read all of the books listed, even though I'd long forgotten about my original list. All total, I read 30 books last year, ranging from a few of my fifth-grader's chapter books to the entire Bible. Here are my stats as of December 25, according to Goodreads. (I've finished two books since then, so I imagine the stats will be updated at some point.) Books read: 28 Pages read; 10,714 Shortest book: Lois Lowry, Number the Stars Longest book: The New Inductive Study Bible Average book length: 382 pages I imagine that, if I didn't...

Lately it seems I'm seeing a lot (tweets, articles, etc.) about Bible reading and biblical literacy. I haven't added to the conversation because I am a theological nobody, a lurker on various blogs who is relatively new to Twitter and has few followers. On top of that, I'm a relatively new Christian, though not new to Christianity. But I've been a little surprised at how many Christians are saying they rarely read the Bible, or that they read it in phases (every day for a month, then a few months of not opening it). And many have read only bits and pieces. I would expect this from someone who isn't a Christian, but these are Christians saying this. I honestly don't get this. Maybe I will once I have more years of being a Christian behind me. But I can't get enough of the Bible. It's all I want to read. I get up at 5:00 every morning, sometimes earlier, so I can read the Bible. I gave my life to Jesus last October and immediately began reading through the...

People are acting really hateful today. I'm not seeing it on Facebook, but I've checked Twitter a few times ... and whew! I'm newly amazed at how utterly cruel we can become in our self-righteousness. There is another thing I'm seeing, too. The people who aren't being cruel are talking about how they would never be so cruel as to cheer for a leader getting COVID, who would never be so hateful as to wish a sitting U.S. President would suffer and die. I imagine they wouldn't, but I find that thinking that way ("I would NEVER do THAT ...") can be dangerous. Because I don't think we can think that way without some degree of pride in our own personal righteousness. I am reminded of the Solzhenitsyn's words in The Gulag Archipelago: The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either--but right through every human heart--and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it os...

I am coming out of my blog-cave today. I have had a LOT of thoughts lately on a LOT of things. I imagine all zero of my readers have as well, since there is much to think about. I haven't had much opportunity to write in my journal (which is where I usually deposit my thoughts, since it's the only thing patient enough to listen to them), so I'm writing them all down here. I am seeing more and more of this concept of, "You can't possibly know what it feels like to be ___." Usually it's directed toward a white person who can't possibly know what it is to be a POC, or oppressed, etc. Sometimes it's directed to a man who has no clue of what women go through day to day. Whenever I hear this, I think, "Do people not read or write anymore?" I mean, isn't that one of the purposes, or at least one of the benefits, of good literature--to take a person out of themselves, out of their small "real world," and into the world, thoughts, an...

I wrote this one for Facebook but decided not to post it there because I came up with something better. But I don't want to lose this one, so here it is. Let beer be for those who are perishing,     wine for those who are in anguish! Let them drink and forget their poverty     and remember their misery no more. - Proverbs 31:6-7 I know, this isn't what people generally think about when they think "Proverbs 31 wife." This ceramic astronaut is a keepsake from my old job. Who knows why I took a picture of it with a glass of wine. Probably because I'm an avid taker of random pictures. I found the photo in my phone today while running a search on the word "drink." At first I scrolled right past it; my brain tends to scroll right past memories of that old job when they come up. But then I went back to the picture and thought about how my unhappiness at that job , for those last two years at least, resulted in a whole lot more wine-drinking on my ...

Here are a couple of articles, both by Robin Schumacher, that I found today on the need for apologetics education. Again, saving them here for later. The Tragedy of the Even Dumber Church (published 2020) The Tragedy of the Dumb Church (published 2007)

Today I turned 50 years old. Of course, this grand event has prompted some thoughts about my life up to now. Here are a few, in addition to the immediate, "Why didn't I take today off and give myself an even longer weekend?" (Yesterday the whole family was off for President's Day.) Since my teen years, each decade for me has been better than the previous one. So yes, my teen decade was my worst, my 20s the second-worst, etc. And my 40s were, hands down, the best. (I'm not sure where my childhood years would go in this ordering. They're probably right up there with my 40s.) This doesn't mean that my 40s were a decade of uninterrupted joy. It had its share of struggles. But overall, I was happiest in my 40s. Years ending in a "9" have been the best for me. Age 19 was my Yellowstone year, and age 29 was the year I was discovering backpacking and planning to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. It was at age 39 that I became a mom. At 49 I lost my jo...

I have so much to write, dear friends, and this Challies article prompted me to post today. I have been thinking about this blog and what I want it to be. Currently, nobody that I know personally is aware of this blog. I've never shared it with anyone. And I like the idea of writing anonymously. When I was younger, I dreamed of being famous -- for what, I wasn't sure. I just wanted to be famous. Now? Whew! I never achieved fame, and boy am I glad. I like my relative anonymity. So, why am I writing here? Want to know the #1 reason that came to my mind? Okay. I'm lonely. I have friends, but no close friends. I still treasure my close friends of the past, but none of them live near me. It's all Facebook and the occasional text or email. I know so many people nearby--in my neighborhood, at work, in my church, at my kid's school and other activities. Often, I'll think, "That person and I have something in common! Maybe we can be friends!" W...

I'm on a social media fast for several weeks and cannot share, with a simple click, some of the articles I read here and there. So I'm going to post some here, for now. Kids Without Car Seats: How My Newborn Exposes Our Nation - This article is another that points out the obvious disconnect between our devotion to child safety (the example of car seats) and our disdain for the unborn. Even if we aren't "pro-choice" and in favor of sacrificing unborn children at the altar of sexual freedom, too many of us (myself included) do little to fight against it. We are aware, yet we do little to nothing. Proverbs 24:10-12 are some of the most uncomfortable and convicting verses in the entire Bible: If you falter in a time of trouble,     how small is your strength! Rescue those being led away to death;     hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,”     does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Doe...

Just because I think I've made the right decision *for me* ... doesn't mean I've made the right decision. "Right for me" isn't necessarily what's right, or best. "Right for me" could even be foolish or even immoral or otherwise detrimental. "Right for me" myopically risks missing the bigger picture, the long-term consequences, the people affected. Still, it seems that "right for me" is all that matters for a lot of people. "My truth," etc. "My truth" is a lie.

Stop the presses! I have devised a brand-new reading challenge for 2020. It will incorporate other challenges (sort of), but it has a logic of its own. Here's what I've read so far: Kids' Chapter Book: A book recommended by a middle-grade child:  Into the Wild: Warriors, Book 1 , by Erin Hunter This one was recommended by my daughter, who is deep into Erin Hunter's "Warriors" series. Last summer, we visited my sister and her children, and 10-year-old Emmi was engrossed in the books to the point of being rude to company and refusing to play with friends. (Having been in that same predicament many times as a child, I sympathized with Miss Emmi.) The book was entertaining, though I cringed a little at the cat-violence in the fight scenes. I cried a little in the end and just may go on to read Book 2. Second Chance Book: A new-to-you book by an author you've read in the past and didn't like: Velvet Elvis , by Rob Bell I read What is the Bible  ...

I have a co-worker (I’ll call her Debbie) who has a mountain of debt, mostly from a couple of years of college a decade ago. She  talks about  about her debt all the time—what a burden it is, how stressed she is about it. But she also buys breakfast and lunch every day, goes out for coffee regularly, and gets her hair dyed professionally every couple of months. I’m not saying this to judge her, as I have  a big log in my own eye  often whined about my own debt while sipping on a venti Americano or a $9 glass of wine. But I bring up Debbie because of a recent social media post she made: Debbie: Hey guys! So I reeealy want to get another tattoo. Yay or nay? Friends: Yassss! You work so hard you deserve it! Yea gurl! Do it! Debbie posts a variation of this question every few months. This time it was a tattoo. In the past, it’s been piercings, additional pets, vacations, even a house. Someone (probably a stodgy old aunt) commented, “Not a good idea, Deb. Pay of...

I have been reading like a fiend lately. Most of my readings have been in the area of social/cultural commentary, but I've also been reading quite a bit of theology. In an effort to both keep with my recent reading and expand my horizons in 2020, all while giving myself a fun "New Year's Resolution"-type challenge, I'm going to do Tim Challies's 2020 Christian Reading Challenge . As Tim suggests I'm going to begin with the "Light Reader" list, which averages a book every four weeks. I'm not sure how many books I read a month right now; I'm always reading four or five different books. But I imagine I cover four or five books a month, more or less. So there's a good chance that I'll get behind the first list. I'm not sure if I have the gumption to post book reviews, but I'll share what I'm reading (once I figure out the titles) and will likely post related thoughts and tangents.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, my notebooks were my respite from a loud, confusing world. My hearing loss meant that people often sounded like they were speaking a foreign language; I could catch bits and pieces of what they were saying, but I had to reconstruct the rest based on sight, context, intonation. It was a lot of work. I was tired all the time. So when I would retreat to books, it was like I could finally wake up and come alive. And my notebooks—my journals—were where I could communicate to the world, at least in theory. In truth, I never published anything in those journals. But they were valuable for (among other things) the sense that I could articulate and communicate--something I never felt able to do in the Real World. The hearing loss was one issue, but there was also the truth that I have always been, and still am, very shy. I've learned to "fake it" over the years, of course. And my shyness can even seem to disintegrate among certain friends and ...

Several weeks ago, I was deep in prayer, and I asked God how I can best serve Him and the church. "Write," was the first word that came to my mind, a whisper in my thoughts. Did that come from God? From me? What's odd is that I was caught off-guard. For some reason, the idea of writing was a little shocking to me. I say "for some reason" because I've been a writer all my life. I've never made it big, though I've published a few things here and there, and for most of my career I've been a technical writer. Writing is like breathing for me. So why was I so shocked when the word "write" came to mind? I guess I thought my "role" would have something to do with music. Or teaching. Or speaking. I have skills in all those areas, and those areas just seem more ... I don't know, active . But I do know how to write, so I'll go with that. Immediately after this big revelation, my schedule went crazy. I suddenly had no tim...