Bathing in Sin

Yesterday while waiting for Costco to open I was half-listening to NPR's Morning Edition. The personal finances "expert" was talking about saving money and conserving energy in the winter. The host asked which used less hot water, a bath or shower (a shower), then followed up with a suggestion that perhaps baths could be shared. The finances guru giggled, admitted that she had done so, then said, "But I'm married!"

There you have it--just one more way "civil unions" are separate and unequal. "But I'm civil-unioned!" lacks the linguistic authority to absolve those who cannot marry from the grievous sin of bath-sharing.

Lapsed Unitarian

I had to laugh at Philocrites word choice about the status of this blog--lapsed. Ah, even among Unitarians there's enough residual guilt that one can be a "lapsed Unitarian."

Actually, I've been pleasantly surprised that, no matter how much guilt I heap upon myself, the UUs here in Anchorage have been very gracious about my comings and goings. As Fran, the minister, says, "You get out of it what you put into it."

I'm hoping to get back to blogging, but will try to emulate my fellow AK UUs and not guilt myself if (when) I once again lapse.

Question for UU Xns

From what I've heard/read, a lot of UU bloggers are UU Christians. A question for those of you who are: why do you affiliate with the UUA rather than the UCC?

I'm asking because I'm curious about your decision-making processes, and don't mean to imply any judgement.

UU Adult Spiritual Formation?

Question for the more veteran UUs out there. Is there any common ground of spiritual practice among UUs?

Here's why I'm asking.

Reason 1: One of my Christian colleagues (whose parents are UU, I believe), talks about UUs as dabblers who don't exhibit a whole lot of spiritual maturity (same could be said of many, many Xns, I know). And his comments are not unusual--isn't there a joke that a UU evangelist knocks on your door & doesn't know why?

Reason 2: The real reason. I'm fascinated by human development and transformation. I do more than my fair share of navel-gazing, I admit, but my interest is a sincere concern for becoming an ever more interesting, compassionate, intelligent, life-loving person (and helping others engage in their own process of becoming).

So, do UUs share common practices for "becoming"? Or is everyone eclectic, creating a complex Venn diagram of occasionally overlapping circles? Is this question what pushes people into UU special interest groups (the Xns, the Pagans, the Buddhists, etc.)?

Sorry for the run-ons--in my quest to conquer insomnia I've discovered melatonin!

Better Old than Orange

In honor of my upcoming 35th birthday, I decided to color my hair (to cover the sprinkling of gray). Faced with two color choices, I asked the stylist, "Which one would be more fun?" Bad move. The "touch" of copper she suggested left my hair the color of a copper kettle (a new one, not one turned green with age, thankfully). It's a shock every time I catch a glimpse of myself in the apartment's omnipresent mirrors. Feels like I'm wearing someone else's hair--hair that doesn't match my skin tone. Now that I think of it, maybe that's where the aged-copper green went--to my face!

Winter is Worse in MI

We just returned to sunny Los Anchorage from an extended holiday trip to Michigan, where we were asked many, many times, "How dark is it in Alaska? Don't you get depressed?"

The answer is, no contest, that Michigan winters are far more depressing than Alaska ones. We were in Michigan for 17 days--and saw the sun exactly twice (and those times were brief). Other than those short burst of blue sky and sunlight, the skies were oppressively overcast, as a heavy gray-white blanket of clouds hung constantly over our heads. It was very, very depressing.

There was more light (longer days, sun more directly overhead) but the longer days made us exhausted. Go figure.

I think I'm concluding that most of what I imagined about living in Alaska was backwards. I do love a place that surprises me!