Monday morning things

* We really, really need rain. We're supposed to get it tomorrow.

NO ONE is allowed to complain if it rains on Valentine's Day.

* One of my friends at church, her husband is a volunteer firefighter for the area north of us - she says he has been called out every night this past week for grassfires. We always have a  late-winter fire season but this year is unusually bad because it's been so dry.  Some of the fires are people doing stupid stuff - burning brush, throwing cigarette butts out of car windows. A few are just bad luck - sparks thrown when a trailer chain drags or sparks thrown from friction between the wheels on a freight train and the rails.

* A BBC story on Aggretsuko, their new angry red panda character - this article proposes a bit of psychological background (i.e., "Japanese women are expected to be cute and quiet") but I think the character definitely has wider appeal. While, when I am at my best, I can look at the foolishness of others and forgive it and keep going, I will say there are times when I can feel my anger rising - like when I'm working on something that I have too little time to work on, and someone stops by and wants to talk about either their most recent achievement ("humblebragging") or else wants to lay their problems on me.

They also refer in passing to another Sanrio charcter, Gutedama - the lazy egg who apparently suffers from depression. It's enough to make you want to ask, "Sanrio, you okay? You need to talk about something?" Or maybe in a broader sense, people in the world are getting more open about the less-idealized parts of their personalities.

Though sometimes I wonder if being able to get angry at people and express that anger might make my life a little easier (in that people would be less likely to ask me to do stuff).

* Okay, so it's going to be a lot colder today (in the 50s). It was in the low 80s Saturday. Everyone is sick. A school in north Texas had to close for a day or two because so many kids were out with the flu. Also, in my county, they are telling everyone who hasn't been vaccinated against the flu (and who can be), should go in and get the shot. The one good thing about all this is that apparently the flu going around is one of the forms in the vaccine from this year. Which means I'm protected as I got the vaccine back in October.

There's also a bad cold making the rounds and I hope I can manage to avoid that. Though it's easier to keep going with a cold than it is with the flu.

* One bit of good news, though, not unexpected but still good: the congregation unanimously voted to call the guy who has been filling our pulpit on a probationary basis, with the opportunity of renewal if things go well. I think it's probably 99.9% sure he's going to accept; the chairman of the congregation said he was like an excited kid when he heard from the chairman that the board voted to recommend he be called. So for the next six months, we know who will be leading us, and there's the chance that if things go well (especially if we see growth), he will stay on longer.