I mean, it was as if bricks and mortar were falling out of the sky in front of me and mysteriously arranging themselves into a house right at the point I desperately needed shelter. And I wouldn’t have even walked in the direction of such a miracle had it not been for a mysterious gut feeling 2 ½ years before.
five years in madison, wisconsin, part II
This left me with no time to take my extra posessions to Goodwill. Instead, a dresser, a nice coffee table, a couch, and a chair ended up in the alley. I think the dumpster divers named the alley after me.
five years in Madison, Wisconsin: part I
Tomorrow marks my five-year anniversary as a full-fledged resident of Madison, Wisconsin. I’ve been meaning for a long time to tell the story about how I ended up here.
the end of suburbia
The documentary talks about the development of the suburbs and suburban sprawl, and how necessary cheap oil is to make such a system function. Essentially, American civilization and the institutions we’ve become so dependent on are built on a house of cards balanced on top of oil derricks, and once the oil stops being abundant, cards are going to start falling one by one.
a fresh dusting of snow makes me re-think winter
In any case, I felt a sense of calm as I looked out at the fresh coat of snow, covering up the grey and grime. I began to think that maybe I'd like winter more if I lived in the country instead of the city.
January 3–only 78 days until spring! yay!
The holiday season lets me smile and tell myself that I'm all aglow with this "peace on earth and goodwill to all" stuff. January comes in and kisses me with a flying snowball that says, "Okay, now, what are you going to do about it?"
visions of Chicago lights dancing in my head
It's kind of significant that today is the fifth anniversary of the day I first moved to Madison. Actually there are two anniversaries--December 26th is when I first started living in Madison, and January 26th is the day I pulled up all my Illinois stakes and fully relocated myself to Madison. That's another long story which I'll tell in another month. But I promised ye gentle readers that I was going to write a little bit more about my visit to Chicago
it’s almost Christmas Day
To me the song is about feeling lost and being found again due to God's grace. I soooooo identify with that. My first few years in Madison were very difficult for me. This year I feel like I've been through the wringer again, too, but I also feel like I've been showered with the grace of God. So I would like to reprint these lyrics for anyone who has felt or feels lost. If anyone knows who wrote the song, please tell me. I want to shake the person's hand, and of course give credit where credit is due.
visions of orange street lights dancing in my head
What got to me was the orange street lights. Seriously. Chicago's street lights are a weird, incandescent orange, and that made it very, well, Chicago. I have many memories of various adventures under those street lights--excursions to different parts of the city to visit family, hang out with friends, celebrate the Fourth of July or New Year's. And it was all coming back to me, even among the gritty parts of the city near the Stevenson Expressway.
Baha’i humbug? no, Christmas still has meaning to me. um…can you tell?
I have a funny relationship with Christmas. It’s been over two decades since I stopped being exclusively a Christian.