Wednesday morning stuff

Meeting last night. (It was Nominating Committee at church - "who do we pick to replace the people who are ending their term as elder/deacon/deaconess/trustee"? And yes, unlike some congregations we still separate deacon and deaconess duties. I almost spoke up and remarked that a lot of churches have gone to a "diaconate" where men and women both serve and both do similar tasks, but didn't, because it seemed like we got enough nominations for both groups. And I know some women who will serve as deaconess but would not serve as deacon (which mainly involves collecting the offering and carrying the trays of bread and cups for the Lord's Supper).

The nicest thing? The board moderator said he would call all the nominees to see if they were willing to serve. In the past, they've split up the list and given part to each of us. And given my dislike of calling people on the phone....well, I do it, but it's not a comfortable thing.

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Ran to the grocery store this morning - I am phoning it in this year on the Feast of Finger Foods. Normally I bake something or make some kind of dip or something, but this year - meh, between trying to get all my Directed Readings students taken care of, and grading, and trying to gear up my own summer research, I really had no time. So I bought a tray of fruit and a box of donut holes. At least I got the kind of donut holes that have sprinkles on them, that counts for *something*, I think.

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While walking back to my car, I saw a pickup truck in the lot with a logo and the name "Universal Pegasus International" on it. While I suppose it is probably the exploration or land-acquisition arm of MobilGas, I admit to looking at it and thinking, "Take me back to Equestria with you"

(Now I wonder: Who would be a worse driver, Fluttershy or Rainbow Dash? Fluttershy would be way overly cautious and one of those annoying types who waits extra long before turning at an intersection to be sure it's "safe," but Dashie would probably be a bit of a leadhoof and maybe a little impatient to boot.)

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I also look at the "CMC Trailers" mudflaps that are attached to some of the large construction-vehicle trailers here and think of Cutie Mark Crusaders. ("Maybe our special talent is trucking!")

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Something perhaps a bit more serious: through a chain of clicking yesterday (waiting around for a Directed Readings student before I could leave for the day), I ran across a website where the writer was talking about Guy Fieri's much-maligned restaurant, and in general, Food Network personalities. And the writer hated them all. (Even Ina Garten, who is my current favorite). And had something snarky to say about all of them, and some snarky things to say about the people who would eat in a Guy Fieri restaurant.

And that kind of thing just makes me tired. I think part of my frustration with it is that I look at it and to me it seems like a cheap path to some kind of sense of superiority: "Look at me. I'm better than these sheeple, because I know that x, y, and z that they love is really crap."

And I think I also dislike it because it makes me uncomfortable - the idea of either, "What if that person wasn't wrong? What if I really DO have no taste?" or "Wow, I hope I never meet someone like that; they would judge me harshly in a split second." And I think it's the harsh-judging that gets me. Lots of people love stuff that I don't care for; one of the reasons I order so much stuff through mail order is that a lot of the stuff I like, you can't get at the Wal-mart or the Dollar Saver. But there's stuff I like that I know the tastemakers would sniff at and go all superior. And here's a dirty secret of working on a college campus: You get people like that in some of the departments. The ones who judge you because your choices in entertainment aren't as highbrow as theirs, or because your diet isn't as "pure" as theirs, or whatever.

And, I don't know. I guess I should just give up trying to please people like that and do like I did in junior high and realize that it's probably better to be scorned by some people but be true to myself, than to be doubly miserable by trying to change myself in ways I'd rather not and still not "fitting in."

I don't know. I'd rather talk about the stuff I love than hate on the stuff I don't care for. To me, that seems to lead to greater happiness. I'm not sure what kind of true happiness a person derives from, say, mocking people who eat at chain restaurants (for many of us in the US, I might note, chain restaurants are almost all we have....). I'm not into "life purity tests." As long as what you do isn't negatively impacting me, I don't really care - I will complain if you drive your loud boom car through my neighborhood at 2 am, because that wakes me up. Or I will complain if you mount a petition drive to, I don't know, ban ice cream from the grocery store on the grounds it is "unhealthy," because I'd kind of like the choice to buy ice cream or not.

But, I don't know. There's so much snark out there and it makes me SO tired and it makes me feel like I'm back in 7th grade where some people figure the way they can feel better about themselves is to make other people feel bad. And really, life is hard enough already....

But some days, I admit, I do kind of wonder if I really have no taste.