Congratulations on graduation! :)

Hi!  I've been stupidly busy with school but I'm trying to get my balance back.  I'm just too neurotic about grades and an incurable perfectionist.  Spring break is coming up so I plan to make time for some good discussions! :)

 

How are you?  This is your last year of school, right?  Or did you graduate in December?

Thank you very much! 

                                  

                                 ( : Imagine - John Lennon : ) 

Hi M.. no problem! I sense the need is going to increase as we approach 2015 when the Millennium Development Goals have tio be achieved. I think it will all have a greater public profile and of course 5 of the Goals have a partial or total health element. It really is fantastic and life-changing. I am off to Sierrra Leone for the 4th time on 1st October, just for a week, then probably to Zimbabwe for my first visit mid/end of October.

Hi M.. thank you. I will hopefully be returning many times in the future. If you would like to join me I would love to have someone like-minded with me instead of the overwhelmingly god fearing people I have to deal with! Takes all my self-control.. believe me. I am probably going to Zimbabwe late October for about 10days.. to Insiza Region. My visits are for a maximum of 2weeks but mostly 7-9days at a time.

No baby yet. Thanks for asking, though! Momma is miserable and ready to be done with it. I'll post something on T|A soon after the stork arrives.

Hey M, Thanks for the add! Sorry to be short, but me computer is going to crash on me. Added Microsoft Security a few months back and here come the problems! Ran for two years with nothing... no probs.

Good Omens was a fun book. :)

Yay, I'm glad that you and your girls are enjoying the summer! Although school ended last month, I've been consumed by all the preparations needed for our move to the city at the end of this month. Because my boyfriend is in a wheelchair, it has taken a lot of extra time and effort to find an apartment that will accommodate us. But we finally have a place! Now I just need to finish out my last few weeks at work and we're off. :) I have my first meeting with a university adviser next Monday and I'm so excited to pick out my classes!

This summer, my boyfriend and I are finally moving to Austin! I'll spend the next three months setting up our new apartment/house/whatever-we-find-to-rent, lol. And we're getting a new puppy! We've decided that our 1 1/2 year-old pug needs a sibling so I'm set on getting him a little sister. What are your plans?

Yay, thanks! I so excited. :D

Hi M.
Professional diving basically means I get paid to lead tourists around underwater in open circuit scuba gear.

I also do deep stuff, too. I'm qualified for mixed gas and rebreathers, but I can't teach or do anything with anyone that doesn't have equal certifications there.

I have a deep sentimental attachment to Catholic iconography, as is probably evidenced by all my pictures of cemetery angels. :) I think that I have always sought some sort of ancestral tradition underlying Catholic ritual; when I was forced to get confirmed in high school, I chose St. Brigid--the mother goddess worshipped by the pre-Roman Irish tribes--as my confirmation name. Of course, I don't believe in any of the supernatural aspects of paganism either, but I'm nonetheless fascinated by the sociological history that was absorbed by the Catholic faith. And I think that art is such a great reflection of how human beings have turned to religion throughout our history to tackle the greatest mysteries.

Like you said, the Catholic Church as an institution is nothing but a vicious, power-hungry, and money-driven machine. But there is something fascinating about the individual laypeople of Catholicism--both born into or forcibly converted--who have contributed to create this body of myth, ritual, and iconography which draws upon such a diversity of sources.

Yay for school almost being out! :D I'm actually taking my first semester off this summer in three years, too; I have been going straight (fall/winter/summer) since the fall of 2007. I am definitely looking forward to some really good relaxation and finally making a serious dent in my reading list, lol! It sounds like you and your girls are going to have a blast on the beach; I may have to make a pilgrimage down to the Gulf Coast to see the ocean at least once, myself! :)

Hi hi! :) Spring break was great! I went to California to visit my grandmother...who happens to live in a convent, lol. So I spent the weekend hanging out with nuns. We (I met my parents out there) did get a chance to spend one day sightseeing in Hollywood; it was quite a contrast to go from the cloistered silence of the nunnery to the insanity of Hollywood Boulevard, lol! (Guess which one I preferred...) I'm sooo happy this semester is almost over; how many weeks do you have left? Four more for me and then I'm actually going to take a semester off for the first time in three years! :D

Glad to hear that you are feeling better. :) Nothing new with me except for the normal pile of essays to write and books to read, lol! I had to ban myself from TA over the past week in hopes of getting more work done. Sadly, I just found myself back to trolling Facebook more, lol...

Can't wait for my baby girl! Any tips for raising girls?

And the puppy fur is very soft, indeed. Thanks!

Hi yes, I'm the one you saw on the news :) It's kind of annoying that some of the media tried to conflate atheism with abortion, when I actually became prochoice and made the decision to abort if necessary back when I was a Christian, two full years before becoming an atheist.