i'm busy

a few weeks ago someone asked me whether i had any prayer requests. i thought for a moment and settled on the impossible. "i need more time," i said, "perhaps an extra hour every day, or an extra day of the week."

i wanted a miracle.

another friend demanded that i write more on my novella. "but i don't have time!" i replied.

i happened to have some highlighters handy, so i sketched him a seven-day calendar and then started filling in the squares. by the time i finished, there were about six hours free. so where does all my time go?

1. 40 hours a week at my old full-time job editing psychiatric stuff.
2. 8-25 hours a week managing the imagination section of the other journal.
3. 3-7 hours a week taking editing courses at the UW.

and then this sunday pastor richard encouraged the congregation at bethany to examine how we spend our time. he warned that a bulging calendar is sometimes the harbinger of an unpleasant paradox, sometimes we cram our lives with stuff in order to avoid a clash with meaning, truth, and emptiness.

well, i'd love to take some time to consider this, but i have an essay on capitalism to edit.


photograph: andrew david. "revelations." mount st. helensish, wa.

bethany wilderness retreat

by the conclusion of yesterday's post, i nearly convinced myself that i'm a stuttering fool in conversational contexts, and although that may be somewhat true, i also have flashes of social brilliance. stop laughing. it's true. errrr...ummm...well, look at this, a list of bethany folk that i met at the mt. baker wilderness retreat and can still remember after more than 2 weeks:

allen - tall...wild as a youth
blake - electrician
braden - manager at a conservative think tank
brendan - va lab tech for sean's friend ernie
brent - administrator and part-time guide for an international climbing guide service
brian - netflix apostle
chris - lived in an igloo while working as a ski instructor
dale - wamu dude; taught english in japan
daniela - professor of food and nutritional sciences at spu
dave - friendly atheist turned christian
emilie - social worker-to-be
john - office assistant for a law company, a david james duncan fan, and a uw student in the writing program
ilse - nice person on a couch
jack - competitive eater
jonathan - teacher-to-be at central
karen - listener to my interrogation of rob
leif - marketing guru (gf: carly)
laura - ? loaner of sunglasses
michael - spu student of history
nicola - former spu student
rod - professor of history at spu
ruth - part-time worker and wife of rod
scott - director at tap root theater

there are several other faces that i can't match to names.
and there are also several faces that i can match to names but with whom i didn't actually speak.

thanks for indulging me in this chance to illustrate my stellar memory and great prowess in meeting people (i.e., conversation).



andrew david. "and then the priest coughed and said, 'but, sir, the lodge is the people' " mt baker, wa.