You're dead. Who are you going to be tomorrow?

(Reynolds Price)

The whole quote: "When you undergo huge traumas...everybody is in league with us to deny that the old life is ended. Everyone is trying to patch us up and get us back to who we were, when in fact what we need to be told is, You're dead. Who are you going to be tomorrow?" This is from his book, A whole new life quoted in Leaving Church (yes, that book again.)

Fame: I'm going to make it to heaven, light up the sky like a flame, Fame! Baby, remember my name.

Thanks to Pandora, I'm currently listening to a very mellow version of this TV theme song: Eldissa, on an album probably called "What a difference a day makes." It's on my Basia radio station.

I could craft the quote, above, and the song lyric into something beautiful, I'm sure, but I always keep in mind a quote from Maya Angelou: we are a people that uses art as soon as its created. (Oh, for sure that's not what she said. But I'm a big believer in getting stuff out--as long as it's not the novella I've been bottom drawer-ing since 1993...)

Stuff I have to get out:

Work on my finances and start a savings plan.
Start making my lunches.
Send pictures to folks that I took at the Union Project's Rent party. (Was that May??)
Think some more about getting a road or mountain bike (not motorized--saving gas and getting exercise would be the goal.
Research getting a CD player in my car.
Change the oil in my car.
Take care of registering my car.
Make sure there aren't any pesky unpaid bills.
Laundry (the monster has overtaken...I know I saw that [pick an item, any item] a while back, but where is it?)
Get ready for my trip away this weekend to the 'rents. Who will I see besides the 'rents and the sibs?

The front verse in my Bible Verse box right now is from Psalm 126:5-6
"Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.
He who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow,
will return with songs of joy, carrying sheaves with him." (NIV)

On the back, there's a prayer. "Father, may the seeds of suffering or sorrow flower joy into my life."

Last night at the OD, the sermon title was simple: "Jesus makes life hard." Well, he does. But his kind of hard is the kind you can hold onto--it's the kind that matters. I loved Reese Witherspoon's Oscar acceptance speech, where she talked about June Carter Cash. She used to say, "I'm just tryin' to matter." Well, that's not an easy task.

But it beats the other end of the stick any day. I know where I'm going when I die and I have no idea where I'm going tomorrow, except to work, but somewhere in between, I'll manage.

I guess that's all for now, because I am crafting my first original catalog record. Any librarian worth her salt will tell you that's big. Imagine you're making your first souffle. You've been the sous chef and you've helped prep, but this is your first big shot. So you gather all the recipes and you go to town.

Here I go!