So it is time for yet another birthday. My birthday.

I must say that with every passing year they become a little less exciting, though I do really enjoy the attention: getting calls, wall posts, and of course, gifts! My melancholy side has been thinking about time today. In part because it’s my birthday and also because it seems that right now I am living in a timeless sort of space. I’m here in GA, but not really able to dig in and jump back into community. I have no home of my own, I’m just borrowing other peoples for a time, which in itself is an exercise in both humility and selflessness. My days all seem to blur together as I am lacking the structure that classes and assignments brought.

But this birthday, unlike the one when I woke up in Rome, Italy, (ahhhh) is not the most exciting one on record. Had it not been for a surprise party this weekend I would probably not really think much of it at all.

Since January we have been in a waiting pattern of sorts. With the hopes of leaving in March for our next permanent destination, we find ourselves, in late March, still here and with no immediate plans for departure. So, we are in one place for now, but will be packing up (I should be an expert by now at packing) and moving on to another place in less than two weeks. I think I am growing a little weary of this process.

We have been blessed through this process to have family and friends who have given us love, support and shelter. When we left Dallas I was so upset by the fact that I was leaving some of the best friends I have ever had. And while I still miss them terribly, I have been able to be focus on the present/future without lingering too much in the past.

It’s just time, whatever that means, and it seems to both fly by and yet creep at the same time. So in honor of time here are some song lyrics I thought of–feel free to add yours as well:

Time is on my side. Yes it is. – Rolling Stones

Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ -Into the future – Steve Miller Band

I’ve had the time of my life-No I never felt this way before-  Dirty Dancing Soundtrack (super cheesey, I know)

Time won’t give me time- Culture Club (what an 80’s classic)

If I could save time in a bottle – Jim Croce

And on and on…

Edit blog entries before announcing blog to all my facebook friends. Probably a great idea, now if only I’ll do it.

I’m reading a fascinating book on writing. It sounds a little ironic when I say it like that, but I want to be a better writer, therefore I read. The book is called Stein on Writing and I have so enjoyed it. I have been writing for years, though admittedly not well. Most of my writing has been just for me as an escape from the everyday–a way to process things that happen. But now I am trying to write with the hopes that someone might actually read what I write, be entertained by it or maybe even, oh my, benefit from it. It’s a tall order, I know.

So the book I’m reading has some wonderful quotes in it. Here are a few:

– Nonfiction conveys information. Fiction evokes emotion.

– You are a story-teller, not an interior decorator. (in regards to minimizing description)

-There are many ways characterization can go wrong in the hands of a less experienced writer… There is the protagonist with a weak will, and the villian who is merely behaving badly.

– People who are exactly like other people probably don’t exist. But people who seem like most other people litter our lives, and we don’t usually seek their company because they are boring.

That last quote caught me because I’m probably one of those boring people! I also have a protagonist right now that is a bit too normal, a bit too ordinary, a bit like me. So I was working on trying to spruce my character up last night and decided she needed a tatoo and the quirk of not liking lettuce. That seems pretty interesting to me… because really, who doesn’t like salad?