Update-y

Oddly enough, only having computer access for one hour a day at the public library makes it real hard to follow lots and lots of blogs. So, instead, I've been haunting the Christianity section of Powells and finding some interesting books.

The best one ever, though, is In The Spirit of Happiness by the Monks of New Skete. I'm reading it and every page I'm going, "This is me! This is so me!" It's all about how to seek true happiness in a secular setting by using insights the monks have discovered. It also talks a lot about how you can't just be 'spiritual' on your own, and learn things from books, but you need to hook into a community of some kind. I really wanted to type out secions for y'all so you could see how good it was, but the library gets a little tetchy if you bring in outside books (I don't get it). Anyway, go, pick up a copy. It's well worth it (and if you click around a bit on that site/go in to the Bradshaw store, they've got bunches of copies for like, six dollars).

Another book I picked up because I'd been hearing things about it was Unveiled: The Hidden Lives of Nuns. It, frankly, sucked. It focused completely on Roman Catholic nuns, despite the author being a convert to Orthodox Catholicisim. It also focused on nuns whose lives clashed with the traditional vows, and on ones who embraced the Vatican II reforms wholeheartedly. There's about one chapter with sisters who are under 40, and they're in one of the still-cloistered orders. I wasn't looking for something political, but that's what this was, so it left me feeling unsatisfied and quite annoyed.

On the home computer front, a dear friend is supposed to be sending me a loaner laptop soon. Until then, I'll be spending time at the public library and baking bread (because that's what I do when I'm bored).