"30 Before 30" progress update: #29 (Take 2)

Today, I went back to Children's Hospital to attempt to donate blood again. I never did get sick after the last time, and had waited even longer than the 2 weeks I had to, all feeling fit 'n' fine. So as my field trip for today got cancelled and so I had some time (it also being my fall break from classes), last night I made an appointment to try and donate again.

Imagine my delight when, after filling out the same form, it was Mattie again who came to take my vitals! She was surprised to learn I'd stayed healthy after my previous temperature. She quickly confirmed that none of my information had changed in the past few weeks, and I hadn't taken any international jaunts in the interim, so we could proceed to my various vital stuff.

Imagine my exasperation when, after she took my temperature, it once again read too high. Apparently, I am super hot. All the time. (Now, let me interject: 98.6 degrees F is an average. Not everyone runs at that temperature normally, even when completely healthy, and your temperature, like your weight, can vary a bit during the course of your day/life. But anyway, the "normal" temp translates to 37 degrees C, as any good science student knows. The highest temperature someone can have and still be allowed to donate is 37.5 C... so at my first reading of 37.6, I was about to get rejected again for having what amounts to... {drumroll please}... a 99.68. A mere one-degree temperature. Psh.) Fortunately, after taking my blood pressure (excellent as always) and my finger prick (I have good iron levels, since I know you were curious-- oh snap, despite being a vegetarian of 13+ years!), on the next reading my temperature came to 37.5 C. I know, because she showed me.

Next up, she led me out to where another nice lady by the name of Tracye was finishing up with another donor. I got all settled into my chair, Mattie got me a bottle of water, and Tracye did all her set-up gig, including doing something strange to my arm involving a drinking straw (I didn't ask). She got me hooked up and started taking blood (I didn't watch. I'd decided that was a good plan, before even going in).

I made it maybe a minute.

Getting all light-headed, Tracye and Mattie leaned my chair back, unhooked me, and put cold towels on my head and throat. Mattie was also trying to get me to cough hard, but I don't think I satisfied her, I was so busy trying to focus on not being lightheaded, and also on trying to contemplate how coughing hard would help a lightheaded person (I wasn't having a heart attack, after all). I was quite shortly feeling just fine.

"If that was your first time, I wouldn't try again," Mattie told me.
"No?" I inquired.
"Your body didn't like that blood coming out of it."
"It happened too quickly," Tracye agreed. "We didn't get that much red cells out of you, but your body reacted to it. It's not for everyone," she reassured me.

So apparently, my body freaks out and goes on the defensive against blood-letting. I don't suppose I can blame it for this. It actually seems to be a reasonably helpful defensive mechanism, evolutionarily speaking. People are not actually supposed to lose blood, under most circumstances.

Actually, I take that back. A really excellent adaptation against losing blood would have been if I freaked out and bit Tracye or something, before she started the blood draw. Once you're actually losing blood, it would be much more helpful to keep your wits about you, so the wild animal or whatever doesn't finish you off. And I don't actually have any issues with just naturally losing my own blood-- I mean, it's not something I do for fun on the weekends, but I remain quite calm and non-light-headed if ever I injure myself and start bleeding. I still think it's super cool how my fingerprint never grew back after I plum sliced a chunk off of it while in India two-plus years ago. And self-injury seems like a much less problematic situation to get light-headed in. You're not necessarily in as immediate danger of being killed or eaten. Hmm...

Got the snazzy green gauze to prove it.

Well anyway, evolutionary adaptations (or not) aside, my body freaks out. Tracye advised me to keep the wrap on my arm for at least an hour so I don't "spring a leak" (her words), and they asked me to hang out in seating area for a few minutes so they knew I was going to be ok, even though I was feeling just fine sitting up at that point.

I told them that I would just tell everyone else to donate. So here's my pitch: go give your blood! It's for the children. (Seriously, if you live in the Denver area, I highly recommend the blood donation center at Children's. They are super laid-back, friendly, and competent.) If you are somewhere else... well, it's still for the children, or the adults, or whatever. If I can try (this actually makes 3x now, though only 2x since I started this goal), so can you. At least give it a shot.

Children's Hospital. They-- or someplace
 else-- would be happy to have your blood.

So I'm calling this goal "crose enough!" (bonus points if you get that reference). I'm not saying I won't ever, sometime later in this year of my life, attempt one last time (you know, a three-strikes type of a thing). But I think I'll let Mattie miss me a little bit, first. And if I don't manage to donate, well, at least I sure tried. And if you go donate instead, then at least the end result will have been achieved!

Part of why I ♥ bacteria

This random tidbit has no real input from me, just wanted to share something I found super cool. If you're mystified by my recent love affair with all things microbial (and more specifically, all things bacterial-- I mean sure, viruses are cool and all, but they're a little freaky. I'm still not entirely sure if they're alive. And I still really don't quite get exactly what archaeans are). But anyway... I came across this TEDTalk because at some point recently I was having a conversation with someone (a female. Maybe a co-worker? But also, possibly a classmate or another friend. See, I'm at a loss here) and we were having a conversation about something and they were like "Do you know TEDTalks? There's one about ___[thing we were discussing]___, just search for ___[key phrase about the video]___ and you'll find it. You'd like it." Except, I'm not just being cryptic-- I have no recollection of what topic we were discussing, that there is a TEDTalk about that I would supposedly be interested in. So now I'm a little sad, but in trying to jog my memory I have been perusing all sorts of other delights on the TED site, and came across this one. (By the way, how are there only two TEDTalks with the "bacteria" tag? Shameful.)

Anyhow, it's about quorum sensing... sort of. I mean, she dumbs it down-- I'm all for simplifying things, but bacteria do not actually "vote" or "count." As long as you can keep in mind that bacteria are not actually sitting around plotting their next move (seeing as, you know, they don't have brains, being single-celled and all), this should not mislead you too far. :) Also, has some really fascinating stuff about how V. fischerii (the bioluminescent bacteria she talks about) are commensal with these squid they live in, and also about using quorum sensing to target antibiotic-resistant bacteria. (Those details, I hadn't actually learned in microbiology.) See? You're pumped already, aren't you?!?

:) Enjoy.

"30 before 30" progress update: #19

Tonight... I tried brussels sprouts... for the first time in my life!

I know, I know. They're one of the stereotypical things every kid is supposed to hate. But I never even got the chance to love or hate them, having never sampled such a food before.

I'll let most of this experience speak for itself as, not having many experiences as an adult to try an entirely new type of food for the very first time, and thus having not much idea of what to expect nor what my reaction would be, I decided to videotape the actual first sampling experience (well, not entirely true. I'd nibbled a fallen leaf or two while steaming them. But it was not a good representation of a whole "sprout").

Also, that brings up a good question, which I'd never pondered before-- what are brussels sprouts, the sprouts of? I mean is there a giant grown-up food product out there somewhere, just called a "brussels"?

Anyhow, without further delay: I try brussels sprouts.

Eyeing the mysterious veggable.

Intrigued, I am.

Sprouts a-cookin'.

And now, what you've all been waiting for (or I have, anyway, as this part was really just for my own entertainment, and it makes me laugh):

> > > > CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE VIDEO! :) < < < < 

(blogger was having some issues uploading it to this post.)

"30 before 30" progress update: #25

Since today's attempt at blood donation will have to be re-attempted a little later, I figured today was a good day to get going on another of the items I'd been planning: #25, leave nice notes for people.

Now, I'm marked this one as "complete" (you'll see on the original list that I'm now going to be noting the ones I've done, so you-- and I, as it is now my browser homepage!-- can keep track of which are yet to be tackled)... but this is really one that could keep going forever. I didn't really set a limit, like "leave 10 nice notes in random places," though last week I did make up a dozen or so, and have been meaning to start leaving them around.

Today I was heading to campus for the biology department "advising blitz" (translated: the department office was closed when I arrived, and when it reopened 20 minutes later, I was 4th in line to speak with the department chair, who was the only faculty member around for advising at the moment. Though another professor was also recruited to assist one student). In other words, I knew I'd have some time to seek out places to stick some of my little notes, and I turned out to have plenty.

I haven't put out all dozen yet... because I want to keep an eye out for good places. I could have stuck all the notes in stalls in women's restrooms on campus. It'd be easy spots to hit. But I want to be a little more diverse/creative with my places to leave them, than that.

Inside the door of a bathroom stall on campus. This is one of my favorites of the notes. (And for the record, yes, I did whip out a pen and add the missing "l" right after taking this picture. :)

On a bathroom mirror on campus. I thought about how to word this one, not wanting it to come off unintentionally judge-y... hence in the end, I just threw in a smiley face.

Inside the door of my apartment building elevator. (For the record, standing in an elevator that is not moving is a weird sensation. Sort of like being on land again after bobbing on waves at the beach all day. :)

This was really fun. From creating the little notes, to sneaking around identifying places/times where no one would notice me putting them up, to imagining who might encounter them (and hopefully bring a smile to their face). Maybe I'll just do this periodically. I know I've encountered random signs or writings places that made me smile. I hope the people who put them up had just as much fun doing it.

If you have any great ideas for where to continue sticking my happy little notes, feel free to share them!

"30 before 30" progress update: #29 (Take 1)

Today's item: #29 on the "30 before 30" list: Donate blood!

So, I realize that when I had that terrible experience at the Bonfils at St. Joseph's several months back, I swore off attempting to donating blood. Seriously, those people were just beyond rude. They made me feel like they were doing me a favor by even being there-- you know, instead of me attempting to give over body parts to people who need them. Anywho...

I'm still sworn off going back to that center-- or maybe any Bonfils blood donation center. They're on my bad list, for sures. But when Googling blood donating in Colorado, the second link to come up was the blood donation center at Children's. Now, that I can get behind.

So I scheduled my appointment via their website and e-mail, made sure to eat breakfast this morning, and drank plenty of fluids beforehand, as prescribed (ok, this is sort of a lie. I drank two glasses of water right before I left, as I'd forgotten to get around to it earlier). And then headed out to Aurora. Finally after navigating both the parking structure and the inner corridors of the hospital, I arrived at the blood donor center, where I was shown into a cute little cubicle with sliding glass doors on either side, where I filled out my form and then opened the door on the far side to indicate I was finished.

A phlebotomist in maybe her 40s or 50s, wearing a fuzzy headband with two sparkly bats on springs sticking out from the top, introduced herself as Maddy (I have no idea if that's how you spell her name. But whatever, people never get mine right either). At first I thought she seemed sort of non-talkative, very straightforward, but I was glad she was older and maybe thus more experienced at-- seriously? you know what I'm going to say here-- the finger prick. But while she was inputting my information and clarifying answers, she asked if I'd donated at Children's before, and I told her I'd actually not donating before, anywhere. "Well, we'll make sure this is a good experience for you today," she assured me. (Contrast to the Bonfils people who seemed to wish to ensure the opposite.)

Anyway, about that finger prick... the part that makes oh-such-a-difference. People who are bad at these make you think you are going to die. People who are good at them, you hardly notice (ok, that's a lie too, I mean it still hurts, but nothing like the other end of the spectrum). Maddy? Maddy was a pro. I told her that she was much better at it than a lot of people. She told me the trick, which is that they need to stay away from right in the middle of your finger, which is where most of the nerve endings are. My confidence in this woman who I was hoping to let suck my blood out on this Halloween was growing by the minute.

Of course, there was already one potential hitch. On the first temperature read she'd taken in my ear, before doing the finger prick, it'd read at 38 degrees C. She'd seemed surprised, and so had I, as I almost never get a fever (or so I'd thought... more on that later). And of course, because I was feeling just fine. She'd said the highest they could take was 37.5 C, and so she re-took it after taking my blood pressure (excellent as always) and doing the finger prick... and it was now 38.1 C. I couldn't do the math on this in my head, but I know that 37 is normal body temp (come on, I am a microbiology student, after all), and 40 is hot (which I first discovered while standing in a farmer's field in rural South Africa, on a 40 degree C day, long ago).

Alas, Maddy told me they're only allowed to take the temperature twice. She checked how long a high temperature defers a person for, and informed me that it'll be in the computer as deferred for 2 weeks, but if I don't come down with something by Monday or Tuesday, I can return sooner than that. I thanked her, genuinely-- even if I didn't get to donate blood today, I will mostly definitely be back (I wonder if I can request a phlebotomist...?)

At least I got a Sesame Street band-aid out of it. :)

As I was leaving through the bright, cheery halls and calming spaces (granted, this building is fairly new, so it got to be recently cheer-ified), I passed a couple pushing a little boy in a wheelchair between them, talking about how mom and dad were going to donate blood. Presumably, for their son. I passed staff members in Halloween costumes or face paint, and the delightful murals that are spaced along the outside wall of the parking garage. If I knew a sick kid, I'd want them to get to go to a place like Children's. And if I am going to give away my body parts, it's going to be there (stay tuned... I'll of course update whenever "Take 2" occurs!)

~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~

Two side notes to this story: First, while doing a workshop with eight-graders at work yesterday, and trying to give them a feel for the temperatures they were measuring in celsius, I asked if they knew how to convert from C to F. Their teacher injected the formula of "double it... and then add 32." My co-worker apparently also believed this was the correct way to make that conversion. Let us review: my actual temperature today, as recorded by Maddy, was 38.1 C. Which is you do the correct conversion, is 100.6 F. If you do the conversion the silly way, it comes to 108.2 F.

In other words, doing the correct conversion is the difference between discovering my body fighting off some low-level infection that I wasn't aware of, and fearing that my brain is cooking in my head. Who said accuracy doesn't matter? :)

Second side note: when I got home, I took my temperature on my digital oral thermometer (I had a different one I liked better-- well, I think I still do somewhere)-- but it died. The reading? 97.2. So maybe all those times I felt sick but "didn't have a temperature," I was really cooking. I think this thermometer is about finished with its usefulness in this household!

Why I don't accept your reasons for why you're not voting

"One vote doesn't matter."
People who use this excuse do not actually believe it. Because this is based on one of two scenarios:

... the idea that your preferred party or measures are likely to pass, despite you staying home on your couch-- meaning that you are putting the responsibility for your interests off onto other people who decided to actually get up off their couches;

...or the idea that your preferred party of measures are unlikely to pass, whether you get off your couch or not-- meaning that you are willing to compromise your interests to those of the opposing view, just because they do have the energy to get up off their couches.

In short, this excuse is just plain laziness. Stop asking other people to speak for you. Get up off your butt. You have a voice. Go use it.


"The electoral college means my vote doesn't matter."

Again, do something about it. Sitting at home whining will get you nowhere. The most perfunctory of internet searches brings you to this website, where you can learn about measures to reform the voting system used for presidential elections, and even see which legislators from your state support the National Popular Vote bill (which I'll note I really know nothing about, as this isn't one of the issues I'm passionately concerned about, so I can neither endorse nor oppose it-- my point is, if this is actually something you are concerned about, and not just making lazy excuses, then learn about what you can do to change things. This part doesn't even require getting off your butt!)

In other words, if you care about the electoral college, elect people who can work to change it for you. ('Cause remember how all your congress members, state representatives, governor, mayor, school board, city council members, local and state resolutions, etc., are not elected via the electoral college? Yeah. So stop with the excuse.)

Also, I realize that one of the four instances in the history of the United States when the electoral college winner did not actually win the popular vote, happened to have occurred in recent memory, and thus has particularly memorable trauma for some. But the other three all happened over 120 years ago. So stop making excuses. You're doing more harm by not voting than the electoral college has ever done to you.


"The two-party system doesn't work." (or) "I support ___________ party, but they'll never win a major national election."(or) "I don't prefer either of the major party candidates, but I don't want to 'waste' my vote." (etc.)

Ten or fifteen years ago I learned about this thing called Instant Runoff Voting. It's really quite simple once you get how it works (that last link has a nice animation that walks you through it). This should be a bigger part of this blog post, because I remember how stunned and delighted I was when I learned there actually is an alternative to being stuck with only two options. But it pretty much sells itself.

The point is, just like regarding the electoral college... use your voice to get systems like this implemented! There's even a handy list for you of politicians and organizations that support IRV. And IRV is already currently used in a number of localities, so it is possible to get this ball rolling.


"I don't really care."

First off all, I will censor what I would actually like to say to you, and leave it at this, instead:

People all over the world are fighting for this right. They are starting revolutions, taking life-threatening risks to defy dictatorships, religious authorities or violently-enforced gender, race or class lines, or in some cases doing whatever they can to get into this country. When given the right, they vote despite tremendous hardship and obstacles to doing so. The right you are squandering was (and still is) hard-fought for you and much-longed-for by so many others. So stop being a selfish little shit. (Censoring = done.)

Secondly, you actually do care. I will have to listen to you complain about your child's school district, criticize this or that foreign policy, whine about city laws and every other thing you had a say in. Now, this is ok (to a degree, of course) if you actually voted, and the people or policies you supported did not happen to win. (Though even then, your voice doesn't end. Write those people! Call their office! Stage a rally! Even if you didn't vote for them, they still represent you.) But if you decided to just sit this one out, you get zero complaining rights. ZERO.


"It's too much of a hassle."

Voting in America has never been easier. You can vote in person. You can vote by mail-in ballot (you only have to get off your couch for a minute for this one!) You can even vote early. I'm guessing you somehow find time to go shopping, or play a video game, or go to the bar, or out to eat, or to a movie, or on Pinterest... you get the idea. You can vote. If these people can manage it, I'm pretty sure you can, too.

People waiting in line to vote in the 1994 South African elections. 

"I'm not registered to vote."

Ok, well this one might actually be a bit of an obstacle for you in the next couple weeks. But now's your chance. Don't wait till the next election rolls around in your area, and you once again realize you didn't get registered in time. Do it right now. Not next month. Not tomorrow. Not later this evening. Right this minute.

Happy voting! :)

30 before 30!

The list is finalized! It is what it is. I fairly quickly went from not having enough things that I could come up with, to having too many. Basically I went looking for the person's list who inspired this project, only to get linked back to the blogs that inspired her 30 before 30 project, only to read comments on that blog and links people left to other such lists, with many more ideas. You get the idea. Soon I was left with more ideas (and mostly things I'd already wanted to do, not just getting entire concepts from other people, I mean) than I had room on the list for. Fortunately, I also in this process I discovered the Day Zero Project, so I now have a lengthy list of short-term goals and longer-term dreams to keep me going in addition to these 30 I'll be focusing on for now.

Anyhoo... without further ado (and in no special order), here they be:

1. Take part in a flash mob. Totally didn't plan this one, but did one with my 8th grade campers during the second week of Summer Safari back in June!

2. Memorize Psalm 104 all the way.

3. Find out the answers to all the questions I’d jotted down in my Bible, while reading it all the way through. (The factual ones, I mean. Not trying to answer all the deep questions of theology, in the next year.)

4. Apply to graduate school. (And hopefully, get in!) This one is totally done. Though I forget the date. But by early March, for sure, I've had my first acceptance!

5. Go on a blind date. (I’ll need friends’ help for this one, somebody set it up! J) (For the record, this one was on the list before my mom suggested it.)

6. Dye my hair some color that is not usual for me. Calling this one done. It's been a long time since I was actually a brunette.

7. Visit a National Park I have not been to before.

8. Use a chainsaw.

9. Finish the quilt I started forever ago. (No, seriously. It’s been years. I keep forgetting about it for many months at a time.) 

10. Complete a 10K (note that I did not say I have to be running for all of it).

11. Completely go through all my closets (clothes, storage… ok, that’s the only 2 kinds). Leave them much emptier when I am finished. Done! And this was not necessarily a given with moving, though knowing that I would be made this an easy one to include in the list... but yeah, there was lots of weeding out and trips to Goodwill before I loaded up to move what was worth it, all the way across the country. :)

12. Throw a surprise party for someone.

13. Stay up all night in the woods.

14. Fire a gun.

15. Karaoke. (For the record—before any of my friends try to hold me to their interpretation of this one—I am entirely planning on this not being by myself. So there, friends! You’re gonna get dragged into this one, right with me! :) Completed, 03/15/13-- though I had no idea that would be the case, when the day began-- Jes and Cathy are super awesome friends for helping me accomplish this one!!  

16. Learn a magic trick (card tricks count). (Also, I would consider “learn a yo-yo trick” to be a suitable substitute for this one.)

17. Go skinny dipping.

18. Learn to knit or crochet (gotta have something to do when I’m old, right? ;)

19. Try brussels sprouts. Completed, 11/02/2012

20. Host a dinner party for friends.

21. Drag a friend to my church. (Well, if they walk in willingly, that is of course fine, but I’m covering all bases. Also, I realize just one sounds like not much at all, but as most of my friends in Colorado are from my church, it actually seems a tad daunting to me.)

22. Learn to identify all the countries on a map/globe. Workin' on it. It's the Balkans that get me.

23. Be able to do 10 pushups. (This also may sound like aiming low. But seeing as I can currently not—nor even in my life have I been able to, I don’t think—do even one, I think this is perfectly reasonable.)

24. Speak in front of people in some sort of situation that scares me. (That caveat is included because I am actually quite fine speaking in front of people in a great many situations. I’m not entirely sure where I would find a situation that fits the bill for this one, where it would make sense for me to be saying something in front of them. But basically, this means if such a situation arises, I can’t very well say no! J) This one might actually be difficult to mark as done... just presented to a workshop of 75 eighth graders + their teachers/chaperones + a half-dozen volunteers + a few co-workers the other day. So, you'll have to top that to even start making me nervous.

25. Leave nice notes for people (either that I know, or don’t know, e.g. in a public place). Completed, 10/31/12

26. Eat 100% vegan for a week. (Because seriously, I’ve been vegetarian for over 13 years. Maybe it’s about time, already?)

27. Send in something to PostSecret or Found.

28. Memorize a favorite poem. (http://www.bartleby.com/119/21.html)

29. Donate blood (and don’t pass out. Preferably). (This will also tell me my blood type, which I have always wanted to know. I don’t know why I care so much, but I’m intrigued.) Attempted, 10/31/12 and 11/20/12

30. Do a 30-day photo challenge. (My mom did something like this last year, but for the entire year, taking a photo every day—well, usually more than that, but choosing one favorite from the day—and posting them to facebook. I’m opting for a shorter version. J) Completed, November 2012

(Links to progress updates now available right from here, by clicking the underlined item numbers!)

30 before 30... a work in progress

So I've been trying to compile a list of 30 things I want to do before my next birthday (which is now barely 11 1/2 months away)... but I'm only up to 14 so far! I need help. I know that there are other things I've long been wanting to do, or should do, but I can't think of them. Further suggestions welcome!

The list thus far (in truly no particular order, other than perhaps the order they were suggested to me/I thought of them):

- Take part in a flash mob.

- Memorize Psalm 104 all the way.

- Find out the answers to all the questions I’d jotted down in my Bible, while reading it all the way through. (The factual ones, I mean. Not trying to answer all the deep questions of theology, in the next year.)

- Apply to graduate school. (And hopefully, get in!)

- Go on a blind date. (For the record, this one was on the list before my mom suggested it.)

- Dye my hair some color that is not usual for me.

- Visit a National Park I have not been to before.

- Use a chainsaw.

- Finish the quilt I started forever ago. (No, seriously. It’s been years. I keep forgetting about it for many months/a year at a time.)

- Complete a 10K (note that I did not say I have to be running for all of it).

- Completely go through all my closets (clothes, storage… ok, that’s the only 2 kinds). Leave them much emptier when I am finished.

- Throw a surprise party for someone.

- Stay up all night in the woods.

- Fire a gun.

How I fell in love with the scripture

A little over two years ago, someone suggested I read Acts (this was in a conversation, not just a random person walking up to me on the street, out of the blue. Though if that had happened, it would have been so completely random that I might have listened anyway). So I did... and then I just kept going. I decided I wanted to read through the entire Bible, because while I'd grown up having Bible class in school and memory verses and Sunday school classes, there was much of it I hadn't actually necessarily read. So I kept going through the New Testament, and started reading the Old Testament sort of in tandem with it (to do this without running out of New Testament much sooner, you have to sort of pace yourself on it). I left the Gospels for last. I didn't want to set myself a goal (like, "I'm going to read the entire Bible in one year!") because I didn't want to rush myself, as some parts I definitely took more time to process, while some page-turners I couldn't put down. And so, last Monday night, I finished.

I should say I'd recently gotten a new Bible, too, maybe a few months prior to starting this all-the-way-through deal. This is important. You have to have a good Bible. Prior to that I'd had the giant, bulky hardcover student study Bible that my school had given everyone for 8th grade graduation... and somewhere a really fat but tiny-print, slightly battered paperback (which I don't know where it actually is in my house, come to think of it). But nothing that was easy to take with me or curl up with. So I did some shopping around and ordered myself a pretty light-blue faux-leather Bible. It's not too thick, nor too big, nor too heavy. It's easy to grab and take with me or read, wherever I am, but still big enough for me to underline things and scribble notes or questions in the margins. And it doesn't have any commentary or notes in it, which I need if I'm to focus, because I could never resist stopping to read all the side notes and background tidbits in the study Bible.

Some parts were familiar; other stories completely foreign to me (it's interesting to see what parts of the Bible no one chooses to teach or preach about). Some parts were unexpectedly rich-- my friends are still bemused at just how fond I was of Leviticus and Numbers-- while others, took some serious effort to get through. Like Kings and Chronicles. I am so over reading in Kings "for more details, see Chronicles" and in Chronicles "for more details, see Kings" while both are basically the exact same story. And all those kings... I remember in elementary or middle school Bible classes, spending so much time being forced to memorize the orders of the kings of Judah and Israel. And why? To this day, I can comprehend no point in it. Understanding the history of Israel? Sure. But keeping track of the reigns of Jeroboam and Jehoram and Jehoash and Jehoahaz (I could not make this stuff up) never really did anything to bolster my faith. 

At least when they tried to teach us the books of the Old Testament via rap, it served some purpose in being able to find your way around the Bible. But a lot of what I was taught in Christian schooling seems now like a lot of pointless busywork which served little purpose other than to avoid having to talk about any real questions of faith. Outside of the Gospels, the New Testament was left completely untouched until high school (and by then, we did less in-depth Bible study and more "how to figure out what you believe" type of stuff).

I discovered parts that were quite (and in significant ways) different than the "Bible story" versions I was taught of them. And I don't just mean in ways that sanitize it for children, like leaving out the part in the flood story where it states quite clearly several times over that everyone else died. I mean theologically important differences. Not that I have a particular example to give you at the moment. But if I look back through, I'd find some. With slightly indignant comments in the margins.

And in many places, I found my perception of books or stories therein had been colored by common opinion, which was not necessarily an accurate portrayal of what I found on the pages. For example, I think Job's friends get a bad rap. Everyone talks smack about his friends, because they've heard everyone else talk smack about his friends, but if you actually read their exchanges, they sound a lot like the church. (And I don't think wrongly so. They're really supportive. They ask Job if he's gone against God and deserved the fallout in his life, and talk about how people can never measure up as righteous before God. I don't think they're necessarily too off track in their strategy, they just happen to have been wrong in his particular instance. Which opportunity for misjudgment is why maybe we, as the church today, should take care when making those kind of statements to each other, too. Sin has its natural fallouts, but so does just being alive.)

And Leviticus... well most of the Pentateuch, really, people tend to skip over, once they get past the stories they know from their kiddie books. They assume it is dry, boring. Now, I've never read any of those books about the Bible being love letters, and always thought it a little odd that it referred to all the books-- like, Leviticus is a love letter? Or for that matter, Jeremiah-- what even happens in Jeremiah, anyway? Some other little random prophets with names that were probably hard for them to learn to write, as children? But the law was all these guidelines that not only helped keep God's people in line with his best plan for them, but also to do their best to stay right with God, before our savior arrived. We get to see that alternate reality, the life we would've had to try and live up to (not as a response out of love, but out of having no other choice in the matter) if not for Jesus. And Jeremiah (and others of the prophets' books) is chapter after chapter of God just begging, positively pleading with his people to come back to him, telling how much he loves them and they belong with them, and giving them just chance after chance after chance to come back to him. So, I buy that analogy.

Some particular bits of the Bible I discovered bring me joy beyond words. Psalm 104, for instance? I cannot read aloud without giggling. It's my new favorite. (Though my previous favorite is still a favorite, as well. And the first part of it, anyway, was actually a memory verse at school, back in second grade. See, I'm not saying they got everything wrong.) 

Some parts utterly baffled me. I think it's a cultural thing. I mean, for the most part they were sections that just seemed to be completely random thoughts in the middle of an unrelated section. Or to have some significance, of which I have not a clue. Like in the middle of the story, someone suddenly dons a blue turban or something, and clearly I'm supposed to get something about why that detail was included. Thus, this comment (above) is a common one in the margins of my Bible by now. (Oftentimes with more numerous question marks following it.)  So now I get to go back through, and look up the answers to all those questions and points of clarification or confusion, that I had noted in the margins.

Also, now that I'm done, I've started The Case For Christ (not because it necessarily had to follow, because I'd never actually thought of it previously, or even known anything about the book before picking it up; just that I now have an additional amount of reading time available to me, and because I happened to pick it up the other day at Goodwill-- along with several other books, I seriously am not to be allowed into the used book section there, as I cannot resist books that are measured in cents rather than dollars). I'm only about 50 pages in so far, but it's already sort of blowing my mind (like, did you know that Paul's letters were written before the Gospels were written down? That one was so surprising to me, it made me stop and stare at the wall for several minutes. I want to finish that book, then re-read the entire Bible again in light of the more things I know about it!) It's already helping me make more sense of the Gospels, which very unexpectedly were among the longest to get through. I'd had only the Gospels remaining, since maybe May or so. I don't know if it's because they were fairly familiar to me already, or because I was reading the parallel parts of the four together, but it just took a long while to make it through them. And with some confusion over the minor parts that differ between them. And surprise over how briefly the entire crucifixion is covered, and how little is actually written (in the Gospels themselves) about Christ after the resurrection. But I've already had some of my questions answered via that book, so it was good timing, after all.

But any parts that confused me were few, relatively speaking. And the parts I've mentioned here that I love are just a few among many, many, many... see, that's the point of all this, really, only there aren't the right words for it. The parts that are the heart of the love letter, I cannot adequately describe, either for what they are or for what they meant to me. The story cannot be understood in just oft-quoted verses without context, snippets and stories from here and there. The true magic of it is in its whole, in the big picture (or the biggest we as humans can understand, anyhow). You just have to read this book. 

(Also: if you don't have a good one and you want one, I will get you one. I'm serious. If 300 people e-mail me and say they need a Bible, I will figure out a way to make it happen.)