I know that we on Team Daria have spent a lot of time lately talking about God and church. And yet, I still have more to say.

The past six months or more have been discouraging, to say the least. The degree to which my feelings have been hurt is almost indescribable, and the list of offenders includes just about everyone with whom I have any kind of meaningful relationship. The anger, indignation, and general angst built up to an overwhelming degree, and I quite literally found myself crying on a daily basis. Even now, I get emotional over the smallest things. Normally, I joke about having early-onset menopause. It’s just my way.

About a week and a half ago, on September 14, I officially was “saved.” You know what I mean, right? It might sound silly or laughable, but it was a big deal to me. As I’ve mentioned previously, two days later on September 16, I was baptized.
Now the baptism is more of a sign than anything else, but I consider it another stepping stone to where I need to be with God.

Here’s the cool part: things for which I’ve been praying for a very long time are finally seeing some sort of resolution. By the grace of God (and I assure you, it’s the only cause and the only explanation), I have gotten on the road to repairing relationships that I otherwise couldn’t have fixed on my own. Whether it be pride, mistrust, indignation, or just plain ol’ hurt feelings, every ounce of my being was screaming out against reparation. Even something as simple as humbling myself before a man and woman at work has given me any proof I need that God can work miracles. This specific couple was so disrespectful and offensive to me months ago that I have repeatedly refused to wait on them when they come in the restaurant. Last night, my pride was screaming out against me, but I greeted them with a smile and quite literally prayed constantly while waiting on them.

Of course I’m not saying everything is great. The past couple days have been especially hard on me, and the truth is, I just want to hide in bed for the rest of my life. I am almost constantly hurt and offended by the words and actions of those people whose opinions mean the most to me. I have to instantly turn to prayer, and even then it’s a struggle not to be rude or spiteful.

Um. Okay.

Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it’s almost October.

I finally bought some shopping bags from reusablebags.com. I used them for the first time yesterday. Did I mention the first time I took my “I’m not a plastic bag” bag to Wal-Mart? The cashier was so bewildered by my request to use my bag rather than a plastic sack. Now I stick to the self-checkouts, although I have hope for the cashiers at United because they always give me a choice between paper or plastic.

Briefly now about movies:
• Scoop is so incredibly fantastic. I actually watched it twice in one day. It’s funny in a subtle way, smart, and very, very quirky. Check it out.
• Syriana is good but too smart for me. Or at least too smart for me when I’m not giving the movie my full attention. Syriana is to oil and terrorism what Traffic is to drugs and Crash is to racial conflict. I intend to watch it again sometime when I’m actually paying complete attention. I can say, even without my complete and undivided attention, it is still a well-directed, well-written, well-acted, emotional, intense, and worthwhile film.

And music:
• Don’t forget the new Foo Fighters album came out today.
• The deluxe AAEA Counting Crows album came out a week ago.
• I’m actually almost finished with Jane’s Songs for the Fall. If you want a copy, email me your address. I’m not mailing them to anyone this time who doesn’t specifically want one. I never hear back from most people these days.

That’s all for now.

Peace, love, and, oh, lots of good things.