Saturday, June 23, 2007

Email: Do something [EH]

Please REPORT men to eharmony who are clearly lying or scamming you; at the very least it will save other women the same unpleasantness.

DO NOT feel sorry for yourself. If you regret something, DO SOMETHING about it. And doing something does not mean putting yourself passively at the mercy of another's capricious whims. STOP focusing on and even magnifying the negatives, it will NOT help you. Be faithful and positive in the little things and the bigger things will come to those who are patient.

Email: More online jerks [EH]

Being assertive just means standing up for yourself at least as much as bending over backwards for the other person. Don't be so "polite" that you fail to address an issue that needs to be addressed (like blatant lies, disrespect, etc.). If a man offends you, the Lord doesn't want you to lie down and take it -- by "turning the other cheek" he was talking about persecution [more than] a romantic relationship between "equal partners in the grace of life."

I think when two people have spirits and minds that are "big enough," they can share different faiths or politics and still get along well. Sharing the same faith or politics smooths over life's bumps when two people cannot get along that well (that is, usually).

Ask yourself: Why should or does the woman usually become the one to give in for the sake of what the man wants? I think compromise should be a two-way street, or even lay more on the man, since scripture calls on the husband to sacrifice for the wife.

Believe in yourself and don't fear or suspect the worst.

Email: Quiet desperation [EH]

Yes, we all probably want to get married. It does take time but I think the important thing is to be happy with where and who we are right now -- or else we are actually trying to flee our present state of life -- and desperation is never a useful state of mind. I don’t think anyone can make a healthy marriage decision unless he or she can truly go either way -- stay single or marry this person.

Do not join True! I have heard numerous stories of married men listing themselves there (from women who stumbled on them the hard way) and once their ads started resembling soft porn, I knew they had compromised their stated principles (for example, prechecking marital status).

Bottom line, PLEASE DO NOTHING OUT OF DESPERATION. Get a grip and find your happiness where you are now. Bloom where you are planted. Be very good to yourself. Discover your inner joy. This is the path I am convinced will lead [anyone] to be ready to receive the desires of [their] heart.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Neologisms: terate

(A typo for treat led me to terate.) To inflict a mutagenic change upon a subject, esp. by a mad scientist or genocidal madman.

terat- [MW]
Function: combining form
Etymology: Greek, from terat-, teras marvel, portent, monster
: developmental malformation, as in teratogenic

Words: obviate [MW]

Function: transitive verb
Etymology: Late Latin obviatus, past participle of obviare to meet, withstand, from Latin obviam
: to anticipate and prevent (as a situation) or make unnecessary (as an action)

Words: erst, erstwhile [MW]

Function: adverb
Etymology: Middle English erest earliest, formerly, from Old English [AE]rest, superlative of [AE]r early -- more at ERE
archaic : ERSTWHILE

Function: adverb
: in the past : FORMERLY <cultures, erstwhile unknown to each other -- Robert Plank>
Function: adjective
: FORMER, PREVIOUS <erstwhile enemies>

Prayers: St. Theresa's Prayer

May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.

Email: Prayer of St. Theresa [CW]

I normally never respond to these please-send-it-back-to-me things but receiving the prayer of St. Theresa [St. Therese of Lisieux] seems significant because of an amazing movie I just saw called La Vie en Rose, the story of Edith Piaf (the most famous French singer of the last century), who prayed to St. Theresa through all her life's struggles. What a singer! What a woman! What a story!

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Email: Netflix Support

Title request: Veronica's Closet

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Words: poop deck [AHED]

NOUN: 1. An enclosed superstructure at the stern of a ship. 2. A poop deck.
TRANSITIVE VERB: Inflected forms: pooped, poop·ing, poops 1. To break over the stern of (a ship). 2. To take (a wave) over the stern.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English poupe, from Old French, from Latin puppis.

Words: poppet, puppet, puppy [AHED]

NOUN: 1. A poppet valve. 2. Nautical a. A small wooden strip on a gunwale that forms or supports an oarlock. b. One of the beams of a launching cradle supporting a ship's hull. 3. Chiefly British A darling.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English popet, small child, doll, puppet.

NOUN: 1. A small figure of a person or animal, having a cloth body and hollow head, designed to be fitted over and manipulated by the hand. 2. A figure having jointed parts animated from above by strings or wires; a marionette. 3. A toy representing a human figure; a doll. 4. One whose behavior is determined by the will of others: a political puppet.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English poppet, doll, possibly from Anglo-Norman poppe, doll.

NOUN: A young dog; a pup.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English popi, small pet dog, perhaps from Anglo-Norman poppe, doll, from Vulgar Latin *puppa, from Latin pupa, girl, doll.

Language: Benoit vs. Ben-Wa

I was attending a weeklong seminar when I realized the name Benoit (French, "blessed") is pronounced the same as the once-mentioned Ben-Wa balls (click the posting title to learn more).

Bummer, Benoit!

Gibberwocky: pobbity

(It turns out there are only 6 instances of pobbity in all of Google: two in Polish and three nonsense English usages. Now if I can just come up with a definition!)

Gibberwocky: mendimpt, mendimptorian

Gibberwocky: parawollyxy, parawollyxotic

Gibberwocky: infundimtibula, infindumtibula

Gibberwocky: waminamberoptomy

Neologisms: moussche

(Pronounced moosh or moosh-uh.) A moussy cheesecake.

Words: frangible [AHED]

ADJECTIVE: Capable of being broken; breakable. See synonyms at fragile.
ETYMOLOGY: Middle English, from Old French, from Medieval Latin frangibilis, from Latin frangere, to break.

Words: baffle [AHED]

TRANSITIVE VERB: 1. To frustrate or check (a person) as by confusing or perplexing; stymie. 2. To impede the force or movement of.
NOUN: 1. A usually static device that regulates the flow of a fluid or light. 2. A partition that prevents interference between sound waves in a loudspeaker.
ETYMOLOGY: Perhaps blend of Scottish Gaelic bauchle, to denounce, revile publicly, and French bafouer, to ridicule.

Words: squib [AHED]

NOUN: 1a. A small firecracker. b. A broken firecracker that burns but does not explode. 2a. A brief satirical or witty writing or speech, such as a lampoon. b. A short, sometimes humorous piece in a newspaper or magazine, usually used as a filler.
INTRANSITIVE VERB: To write or utter squibs.
TRANSITIVE VERB: 1. To write or utter squibs against; lampoon. 2. Football To kick (the ball) low on a kickoff so that it bounces along the ground.
ETYMOLOGY: Probably imitative.

Prayers: Holy House Prayer

Hail Blessed Mary, Mother of the word Incarnate, in thy humble house in Nazareth, in Walsingham, and in Houston. Teach fathers, mothers, and children to live as you did in your married life; making with thy spouse and child a peaceful home in material simplicity. Grant us to make our own home an uncluttered shrine of loving kindness and mutual charity.

O Mary ever-virgin, teach us who live alone and in uncertainty, as you did while a widow in declining years, to cherish the solitude and interior stillness wherein we come to love the life of prayer. Teach us in the holiness of a chaste life to dwell even on this earth in intimate fellowship with the most Blessed Trinity. Obtain for us even in loneliness the grace of serene trust and loving submission to God's will, so that our final end may be a joyful homecoming.

Grant me, O Lady of Walsingham, in grief or in gladness, in want or in wealth, never to grieve the Holy Ghost dwelling in the temple of my body and soul: forgiving wrongs; cheerfully doing good without expectation of thanks or praise. Obtain for me all graces for which I am not wise enough to ask; self-discipline steadfastly to guard my speech and to possess my soul in patience; and wisdom ever to trust in the Divine Mercy of thy Son our Lord Jesus Christ, the Providence of the Eternal Father, and the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Amen

Faith: Our Lady of Walsingham

I've discovered and joined a wonderful Roman Catholic parish, Our Lady of Walsingham, where liturgical services employ the Anglican Usage of the Roman Rite, approved for this congregation by Pope John Paul II in 1987. The navigation link (click the posting title above) provides an article with photos of the historical Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham (The Slipper Chapel).