The Omnivorous Geek

Link and photo courtesy of shirozora.



So the Westboro Baptist "Church" has been "protesting" at Comic Con. Idiots.

By Jimbo, I despise everything about this little "church" and their idiotic people-hating ways. I don't even hate them--don't want to waste the energy. But I deeply, deeply despise them. They are everything that my kind of Christianity is not about (which is more like Godspell than anything else, if you're curious).

I think my first experience with them, or a group like them, was several years ago when I was driving into downtown Fort Wayne with an older lady in my church, Lauretta, and her husband to go to a concert at the philharmonic. A younger girl was going with us too--I was college-age. And we drove by this group of people standing by the courthouse freezing their butts off and waving their rainbow-colored "God Hates Fags" signs. I was utterly horrified.

Before I could say anything, though, Lauretta made a sound of complete and total disappointment and disparagement and said, "Oh, God does not hate! God is love!"

And I loved Lauretta in that moment more than I loved anyone else in the world. Not just because I wanted to hear it, but because the young girl with us needed to hear it too. (Lauretta was also the lady who counseled me when I was going through depression during that period in my life, and she helped me move past a lot of really bad things. I love her a lot. I also gave her and her husband a teeny weeny part in The Lights of Home.)

Ugh. Those people.

Stuff has been happening, and oh, I could tell you stories, but I've been much too busy writing my surprise!epic kidfic to blog about daily things. So just:

I have changed my layout to be more snow-like. I have yet to find a layout that suits me really well, and I'm too lazy to figure out how to customize. Le sigh. So yes, I change my layout every now and again.

I am almost done with holiday shopping.

I spent a significant amount of time with my family on Sunday--and at my CHURCH, TOO--and did not explode, though I did get antsy and skip out early because I am a wuss.

There was an ice storm on my city. Many people are without power, and may continue to be without power until as late as this Friday. Suckitude, man. I was lucky and did not lose power once, but I feel bad for those who did.

Little Holly and Ivy are INCREDIBLY TAME after only a few days of holding them rather a lot. I am somewhat shocked. Pet store mice almost never get this tame, and it happened with these two almost immediately. ::snuggles them carefully:: Also, I am slowly training my Wallace rat to be a snuggler. He resists, but I am firm. YOU MUST BE A SNUGGLER, LITTLE RAT. I DEMAND IT. It's got to the point where he'll just sit in my hands and brux and groom me for a few minutes at a time, but I'm working up to longer.

Also, yes, the end of Entertaining Angels is upon us, and I can hardly think about anything else. I think the last chapter and epilogue will be written today, and then there will be an alternate ending posted tomorrow, so I can have another 'verse. Because I both need and want this to be a 'verse, and it appears that at least five other people want it, too. And then I will start working on those commentfics I promised, so yeah, those will probably be New Year's gifts instead of Christmas gifts.

I'm going to have to catch up on comments somewhat later, sorry.

The weekend was, as I anticipated, quite fabulous. I was reminded of all the reasons that I love my church--fellowship, friendly people, solid teaching, warmth and love in abundance. And all of the reasons that I'm uncertain about it, as well. Why is it that we can be so good with each other on most things, and yet have silly rules? I'm not any less confused that I was before. I'm also very, very tired, even after a night of rest.

But, more importantly, I have new pets! On the way home, I was driving with my three youngest sisters, and we stopped in Columbia City for lunch. In the same shopping area was a little mom-n-pop looking pet store, and my sisters begged for a little look-see. I wasn't in a hurry, so we went in.

And yeah, I ended up buying a couple of adorable little fuzzbutts. Two little rats, one gray and somewhat slender and slightly more high-strung, one brown and quite chubby and very friendly. My sisters came up with names and I picked my favorites--Wallace (brown) and Sebastian (gray). They were very nervous at first, and of course the drive back to Fort Wayne was stressful, but they've warmed up to me very quickly. By the time I was ready to go to bed, Sebastian was sleeping curled up against my neck and Wallace was lounging over my chest. Oh, they're sweet little ratties. I need to get my camera fixed so I can take pictures!

I may ramble more about my church later, or I may not. But I'm pretty sure that I will be talking about my pets. (I missed my mice, too. I can hardly stand being away from them for even two days.)